virtue
[noun]
Synonyms:
- goodness, incorruptibility, integrity, morality, probity, rectitude, righteousness, uprightness, worth
- merit, advantage, asset, attribute, credit, good point, plus (informal), strength

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Antonyms: vice
Contrasted words: dishonesty, disloyalty, infidelity, evil, immorality, depravity
Related Words: fealty, fidelity, loyalty, piety, virtuousness, attribute, characteristic, feature, property, effectiveness, effectualness, efficacy, force, might, power, strength

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English Thesaurus: advantage, benefit, merit, virtue, the good/great/best thing about something, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

vir‧tue W3 /ˈvɜːtʃuː $ ˈvɜːr-/ noun
[Date: 1100-1200; Language: Old French; Origin: virtu, from Latin virtus 'strength, virtue', from vir 'man']

1. [uncountable] formal moral goodness of character and behaviour Antonym : vice:
Women have often been used as symbols of virtue.

2. [countable] a particular good quality in someone’s character Antonym : vice:
Among her many virtues are loyalty, courage, and truthfulness.

3. [uncountable and countable] an advantage that makes something better or more useful than something else
virtue of
Adam Smith believed in the virtues of free trade.
Wilkins is now extolling (=praising very much) the virtues of organic farming.

4. by virtue of something formal by means of, or as a result of something:
She became a British resident by virtue of her marriage.

5. make a virtue of something to get an advantage from a situation that you cannot change, usually a bad one:
She made a virtue of her acting limitations by joking about them.

6. make a virtue of necessity to get an advantage from doing something that you have to do, or to pretend that you are doing it willingly

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

virtue
noun
ADJ. cardinal, great, special | chief | inherent There is no inherent virtue in having read all the latest books.
negative, positive She has just one, negative virtue?she never tells lies. The brochure makes a positive virtue of the island's isolated position.
old-fashioned, traditional He understands the traditional virtue of hard work.
Christian, ethical, moral | domestic | civic, public | political | easy women of easy virtue (= with low standards of sexual morality)
VERB + VIRTUE have Her book has the cardinal virtue of simplicity.
emphasize, extol, preach He never stops extolling the virtues of the free market.
PHRASES make a virtue of necessity (= to manage to gain an advantage from sth you have to do and cannot avoid), a paragon of virtue It would have taken a paragon of virtue not to feel jealous.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

advantage a good feature that something has, which makes it better, more useful etc than other things:
The great advantage of digital cameras is that there is no film to process.
benefit a feature of something that has a good effect on people’s lives:
Regular exercise has many benefits, including reducing the risk of heart disease.
merit a good feature that something has, which you consider when you are deciding whether it is the best choice:
The committee will consider the merits of the proposals.
The merits and demerits of (=the good and bad features of)alternative funding systems were widely discussed in the newspapers.
The chairman saw no great merit in this suggestion (=he did not think that it was a good idea).
virtue an advantage that makes you believe that something is a good thing:
They believed in the virtues of culture, civilization, and reason.
He’s always extolling the virtues of hard work (=saying that hard work is a good thing).
the good/great/best thing about something especially spoken used when mentioning a good feature of something. This phrase is rather informal and you should not use it in formal essays:
The good thing about cycling is that you don’t have to worry about getting stuck in a traffic jam.
the beauty of something is that used when you want to emphasize that something has a very good or useful feature:
The beauty of the plan is that it is so simple.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

virtue
ˈvə:tju:
See: by virtue of , make a virtue of necessity

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲