virtuous

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: vir=tu=ous

CIDE DICTIONARY

virtuous, a. [OE. vertuous, OF. vertuos, vertuous, F. vertueux, fr. L. Virtuous. See Virtue, and cf. Virtuoso.].

•  Possessing or exhibiting virtue.  [1913 Webster]

  "Old Priam's son, amongst them all, was chiefly virtuous."  [1913 Webster]

  "Lifting up his virtuous staff on high,
  He smote the sea, which calméd was with speed."  [1913 Webster]

  "Every virtuous plant and healing herb."  [1913 Webster]

  "The virtuous mind that ever walks attended
  By a strong siding champion, conscience."  [1913 Webster]
•  Chaste; pure; -- applied especially to women.  [1913 Webster]

  "Mistress Ford . . . the virtuous creature, that hath the jealous fool to her husband."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

virtuous, adj.
1 possessing or showing moral rectitude.
2 chaste.

Idiom

virtuous circle a beneficial recurring cycle of cause and effect (cf. vicious circle (see CIRCLE n. 11)).

Derivative

virtuously adv. virtuousness n.

Etymology

ME f. OF vertuous f. LL virtuosus f. virtus VIRTUE

THESAURUS

virtuous

Christian, advantageous, angelic, auspicious, beneficial, benevolent, blameless, blotless, bon, bonny, braw, bueno, capital, chaste, clean, cleanly, cogent, commendable, creditable, decent, effectual, efficacious, efficient, elegant, erect, estimable, ethical, excellent, exemplary, expedient, fair, fair-minded, faithful, famous, faultless, favorable, fine, full of integrity, godly, good, goodly, grand, guiltless, healthy, helpful, high-minded, high-principled, highly respectable, honest, honorable, immaculate, in the clear, incorruptible, inculpable, innocent, inviolate, irreproachable, just, kind, laudable, law-abiding, law-loving, law-revering, manly, moral, moralistic, nice, noble, pleasant, principled, profitable, proper, pure, pure in heart, purehearted, regal, reputable, respectable, right, right-minded, righteous, royal, saintlike, saintly, scrupulous, seraphic, sexually innocent, sinless, skillful, snowy, sound, splendid, spotless, stainless, sterling, straight, taintless, true, true-dealing, true-devoted, true-disposing, true-souled, true-spirited, truehearted, trustworthy, unblamable, unblemished, unblotted, uncorrupt, uncorrupted, undefiled, unimpeachable, unsoiled, unspotted, unstained, unsullied, untainted, untarnished, upright, uprighteous, upstanding, useful, valid, very good, virgin, virginal, white, without reproach, worthy, yeomanly

ROGET THESAURUS

virtuous

Purity

N purity, decency, decorum, delicacy, continence, chastity, honesty, virtue, modesty, shame, pudicity, pucelage, virginity, vestal, virgin, Joseph, Hippolytus, Lucretia, Diana, prude, pure, undefiled, modest, delicate, decent, decorous, virginibus puerisque, simon-pure, chaste, continent, virtuous, honest, Platonic, virgin, unsullied, cherry, as chaste as unsunn'd snow, a soul as white as heaven, 'tis Chastity, my brother, Chastity, to the pure all things are pure.

Probity

N probity, integrity, rectitude, uprightness, honesty, faith, honor, bonne foi, good faith, bona fides, purity, clean hands, fairness, fair play, justice, equity, impartiality, principle, even-handedness, grace, constancy, faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty, incorruption, incorruptibility, trustworthiness, truth, candor, singleness of heart, veracity, tender conscience, punctilio, delicacy, nicety, scrupulosity, scrupulousness, scruple, point, point of honor, punctuality, dignity, (repute), respectability, respectableness, gentilhomme, gentleman, man of honor, man of his word, fidus Achates, preux chevalier, galantuomo, truepenny, trump, brick, true Briton, white man, court of honor, a fair field and no favor, argumentum ad verecundiam, upright, honest, honest as daylight, veracious, virtuous, honorable, fair, right, just, equitable, impartial, evenhanded, square, fair and aboveboard, open and aboveboard, white, constant, constant as the northern star, faithful, loyal, staunch, true, true blue, true to one's colors, true to the core, true as the needle to the pole, marble-constant, true- hearted, trusty, trustworthy, as good as one's word, to be depended on, incorruptible, straightforward, frank, candid, open-hearted, conscientious, tender-conscienced, right-minded, high-principled, high-minded, scrupulous, religious, strict, nice, punctilious, correct, punctual, respectable, reputable, gentlemanlike, inviolable, inviolate, unviolated, unbroken, unbetrayed, unbought, unbribed, innocent, pure, stainless, unstained, untarnished, unsullied, untainted, unperjured, uncorrupt, uncorrupted, undefiled, undepraved, undebauched, integer vitae scelerisque purus, justus et tenax propositi, chivalrous, jealous of honor, sans peur et sans reproche, high-spirited, supramundane, unworldly, other-worldly, overscrupulous, honorable, bona fide, on the square, in good faith, honor bright, foro conscientiae, with clean hands, a face untaught to feign, bene qui latuit bene vixit, mens sibi conscia recti, probitas laudatur et alget, fidelis ad urnam, his heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth, loyaute m'oblige, loyaute n'a honte, what stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?.

Virtue

N virtue, virtuousness, morality, moral rectitude, integrity, nobleness, morals, ethics, cardinal virtues, merit, worth, desert, excellence, credit, self-control, self-denial, well-doing, good actions, good behavior, discharge of duty, fulfillment of duty, performance of duty, well-spent life, innocence, virtuous, good, innocent, meritorious, deserving, worthy, desertful, correct, dutiful, duteous, moral, right, righteous, right- minded, well-intentioned, creditable, laudable, commendable, praiseworthy, above all praise, beyond all praise, excellent, admirable, sterling, pure, noble, whole-souled, exemplary, matchless, peerless, saintly, saint-like, heaven-born, angelic, seraphic, godlike, virtuously, adj, e merito, esse quam videri bonus malebat, Schonheit vergeht Tugend besteht, virtue the greatest of all monarchies, virtus laudatur et alget, virtus vincit invidiam.

Innocence

N innocence, guiltlessness, incorruption, impeccability, clean hands, clear conscience, mens sibi conscia recti, innocent, lamb, dove, innocent, not guilty, unguilty, guiltless, faultless, sinless, stainless, bloodless, spotless, clear, immaculate, rectus in curia, unspotted, unblemished, unerring, undefiled, unhardened, Saturnian, Arcadian, inculpable, unculpable, unblamed, unblamable, blameless, unfallen, inerrable, above suspicion, irreproachable, irreprovable, irreprehensible, unexceptionable, unobjectionable, unimpeachable, salvable, venial, harmless, inoffensive, innoxious, innocuous, dove-like, lamb-like, pure, harmless as doves, innocent as a lamb, innocent as the babe unborn, more sinned against than sinning, virtuous, unreproved, unimpeached, unreproached, innocently, with clean hands, with a clear conscience, with a safe conscience, murus aeneus conscientia sana.