 3 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
virtue
noun
1: the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is
wrong [syn: {virtuousness}, {moral excellence}]
2: any admirable quality or attribute; "work of great merit"
[syn: {merit}] [ant: {demerit}]
3: morality with respect to sexual relations [syn: {chastity},
{sexual morality}]
4: a particular moral excellence
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Virtue \Vir"tue\ (?; 135), noun [OE. vertu, F. vertu, L. virtus
strength, courage, excellence, virtue, fr. vir a man. See
{Virile}, and cf. {Virtu}.]
1. Manly strength or courage; bravery; daring; spirit; valor.
[Obs.] --Shak.
Built too strong
For force or virtue ever to expugn. --Chapman.
2. Active quality or power; capacity or power adequate to the
production of a given effect; energy; strength; potency;
efficacy; as, the virtue of a medicine.
Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue
had gone out of him, turned him about. --Mark v. 30.
A man was driven to depend for his security against
misunderstanding, upon the pure virtue of his
syntax. --De Quincey.
The virtue of his midnight agony. --Keble.
3. Energy or influence operating without contact of the
material or sensible substance.
She moves the body which she doth possess,
Yet no part toucheth, but by virtue's touch. --Sir.
J. Davies.
4. Excellence; value; merit; meritoriousness; worth.
I made virtue of necessity. --Chaucer.
In the Greek poets, . . . the economy of poems is
better observed than in Terence, who thought the
sole grace and virtue of their fable the sticking in
of sentences. --B. Jonson.
5. Specifically, moral excellence; integrity of character;
purity of soul; performance of duty.
Virtue only makes our bliss below. --Pope.
If there's Power above us,
And that there is all nature cries aloud
Through all her works, he must delight in virtue.
--Addison.
6. A particular moral excellence; as, the virtue of
temperance, of charity, etc. ''The very virtue of
compassion.'' --Shak. ''Remember all his virtues.''
--Addison.
7. Specifically: Chastity; purity; especially, the chastity
of women; virginity.
H. I believe the girl has virtue.
M. And if she has, I should be the last man in the
world to attempt to corrupt it. --Goldsmith.
8. pl. One of the orders of the celestial hierarchy.
Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers.
--Milton.
{Cardinal virtues}. See under {Cardinal}, adjective
{In virtue of}, or {By virtue of}, through the force of; by
authority of. ''He used to travel through Greece by virtue
of this fable, which procured him reception in all the
towns.'' --Addison. ''This they shall attain, partly in
virtue of the promise made by God, and partly in virtue of
piety.'' --Atterbury.
{Theological virtues}, the three virtues, faith, hope, and
charity. See --1 Cor. xiii. 13.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
225 Moby Thesaurus words for "virtue":
Dutch courage, advantageousness, affection, agreeableness,
amperage, arete, armipotence, asset, assured probity, attribute,
auspiciousness, authority, because of, beef, beneficialness,
benevolence, benignity, black power, blamelessness, blotlessness,
boldness, braveness, bravery, brute force, by dint of,
by reason of, by virtue of, caliber, character, characteristic,
charge, charisma, chasteness, chastity, chivalrousness, chivalry,
class, cleanliness, cleanness, clout, cogence, cogency, compulsion,
conspicuous gallantry, courage, courageousness, credit, decency,
desert, dint, doughtiness, drive, duress, effect, effectiveness,
effectuality, efficacy, energy, erectness, estimableness,
ethicality, ethicalness, excellence, excellency, expedience,
fairness, favorableness, fealty, feature, fidelity, fineness,
first-rateness, flower power, force, force majeure, forcefulness,
full blast, full force, gallantness, gallantry,
gallantry under fire, good character, goodliness, goodness, grace,
greatheartedness, healthiness, helpfulness, heroicalness, heroism,
high ideals, high principles, high-mindedness, honesty, honor,
honorableness, immaculacy, immaculateness, influence, innocence,
integrity, intrepidity, intrepidness, irreproachability,
irreproachableness, justice, justness, kindness, knightliness,
lionheartedness, loyalty, main force, main strength, mana,
manfulness, manhood, manliness, mark, martial spirit, merit, might,
might and main, mightiness, military spirit, moral excellence,
moral strength, morale, morality, morals, moxie, muscle power,
niceness, nobility, on account of, owing to, perfection, piety,
pizzazz, pleasantness, poop, pot-valor, potence, potency,
potentiality, power, power pack, power structure, power struggle,
powerfulness, prepotency, principles, probity, productiveness,
productivity, profitableness, property, prowess, puissance, pull,
punch, pureness, purity, push, quality, rectitude, reputability,
respectability, rewardingness, righteousness, rightness, savor,
sexual innocence, sinew, skillfulness, snowiness,
soldierly quality, soundness, spotlessness, stainlessness,
stalwartness, stature, steam, stoutheartedness, stoutness,
strength, strong arm, superiority, superpower, taintlessness,
thanks to, trait, unblemishedness, unblottedness, uncorruptness,
undefiledness, unimpeachability, unimpeachableness, unsoiledness,
unspottedness, unstainedness, unsulliedness, untaintedness,
uprightness, upstandingness, usefulness, valiance, valiancy,
validity, valor, valorousness, value, vehemence, vigor, vim,
virginity, virility, virtuousness, virulence, vitality, wattage,
weight, whiteness, wholeness, worth, worthiness
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