virtuous

adjective

vir·tu·ous ˈvər-chə-wəs

ˈvərch-wəs

Synonyms of virtuous next

: having or exhibiting virtue

: morally excellent : righteous

a virtuous decision

: chaste

: potent, efficacious

virtuously adverb

virtuousness noun

Choose the Right Synonym for virtuous

moral, ethical, virtuous, righteous, noble mean conforming to a standard of what is right and good.

moral implies conformity to established sanctioned codes or accepted notions of right and wrong.

the basic moral values of a community

ethical may suggest the involvement of more difficult or subtle questions of rightness, fairness, or equity.

committed to the highest ethical principles

virtuous implies moral excellence in character.

not a religious person, but virtuous nevertheless

righteous stresses guiltlessness or blamelessness and often suggests the sanctimonious.

wished to be righteous before God and the world

noble implies moral eminence and freedom from anything petty, mean, or dubious in conduct and character.

had the noblest of reasons for seeking office

Examples of virtuous in a Sentence

In a kind of virtuous circle, the "second tier" schools got better as applications rose and they could become choosier in assembling a class—which in turn raised the quality of the whole experience on campus and made the school more attractive to both topflight professors and the next wave of applicants. —

Nancy Gibbs et al., Time, 21 Aug. 2006

In its quest to create ice cream as voluptuous as butter and as virtuous as broccoli, the ice cream industry has probed the depths of the Arctic Ocean, studied the intimate structures of algae and foisted numerous failures on the American public. —

Julia Moskin, New York Times, 26 July 2006

Children born into high-income households become part of a virtuous circle of success. Parents with university degrees tend to earn more, set higher educational goals for their children, and invest more time in the children's schooling than parents who have a high-school education or less. —

Laura D'Andrea Tyson, BusinessWeek, 7 July 2003

We redefined virtue as health. And considering the probable state of our souls, this was not a bad move. By relocating the seat of virtue from the soul to the pecs, the abs and the coronary arteries, we may not have become the most virtuous people on earth, but we surely became the most desperate for grace. We spend $5 billion a year on our health-club memberships, $2 billion on vitamins, nearly $1 billion on home exercise equipment, and $6 billion on sneakers to wear out on our treadmills and StairMasters. —

Barbara Ehrenreich, Utne Reader, May/June 1992

She felt that she had made a virtuous decision by donating the money to charity. virtuous behavior is its own reward

Recent Examples on the Web

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Boston: Image Image When much of downtown Boston burned a year after Chicago, property owners upgraded in a kind of virtuous cycle, erecting sounder and taller buildings and incentivizing their neighbors to do the same. —

Emily Badger, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2025 Other countries will be forced to follow suit and hence create a price action virtuous cycle. —

Billy Bambrough, Forbes, 20 Jan. 2025 Technological progress can also drive virtuous cycles that spur growth, along with progress on a variety of other policy areas. —

Saadia Zahidi, Foreign Affairs, 17 Jan. 2025 This creates a virtuous cycle where higher demand for bitcoin bonds drives greater bitcoin adoption, further bolstering its price and utility. —

Dave Birnbaum, Forbes, 16 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for virtuous