virtuous

• vertuous (obsolete)
• vertuus (obsolete)
• virtuose (obsolete)

From Middle English vertuous, borrowed from Anglo-Norman vertuous, vertous, ultimately from Late Latin virtuōsus, from Latin virtūs. Doublet of virtuoso.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɜːt͡ʃʊəs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɝt͡ʃuəs/

• Audio (GA)

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• Hyphenation: vir‧tu‧ous

virtuous (comparative more virtuous, superlative most virtuous)

1. Full of virtue, having excellent moral character.

   Successful communities need strong, selfless leaders and a virtuous people.

   • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, OCLC 1023879857, page 171:

     Her virtuous, pale-blue, saucerlike eyes flooded with leviathan tears on unexpected occasions and made Yossarian mad.

• good
• righteous

• virtuous circle, virtuous cycle
• virtuousness
• pseudovirtuous

• virtual
• virtue
• virtuosity

• virtuous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• virtuous in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

virtuous

1. Alternative form of vertuous