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# virtue

«virtue» in Mova's school dictionary: **goodness and right behaviour** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (virtue, uncountable; a virtue, virtues)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Virtue is goodness and right behaviour. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virtue/#m1)

2) A virtue is a good quality in a person, such as honesty, kindness, patience or courage. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virtue/#m2)

3) A virtue of something is a good point or advantage: «The virtue of this bike is that it's light». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virtue/#m3)

4) «By virtue of» (formal) means because of. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virtue/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In ethics and religious education pupils learn virtues such as honesty, fairness and courage; Christians speak of faith, hope and love (charity) as virtues. Proverbs: «Patience is a virtue». Phrases: «patience is a virtue», «make a virtue of necessity», «by virtue of».

### examples

- Honesty is an important virtue. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virtue/#x1)
- Patience is a virtue, my gran always says. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virtue/#x2)
- The story shows the virtue of courage. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virtue/#x3)
- Christians speak of faith, hope and love as the three great virtues. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virtue/#x4)
- One virtue of this tent is that it's easy to put up. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virtue/#x5)
- She won the prize by virtue of her hard work. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virtue/#x6)
- Kindness is a virtue everyone can practise. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virtue/#x7)
- "Modestia is a beautiful virtue," said the man. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virtue/#x8)

### note

Uncountable (goodness) and countable (a good quality). Adjective: virtuous. Opposite: vice. Do not confuse «virtue» with «virtual» (seeming real but not really, like virtual reality).

### In the corpora

- [Character thinking asks what a good, kind, brave and honest person would do; philosophers call it virtue ethics.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/7/)
- [Virtues are good habits such as honesty and courage; vices are bad habits such as greed and cruelty.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/10/)
- [Loyalty means standing by your friends, family and groups, but loyalty to wrongdoing is not a virtue.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/7/)
- [Benjamin Franklin kept a chart of thirteen virtues and marked his faults every day.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/98-honest-with-yourself-excuses-pride-and-the-truth-inside/9/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «virtue» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virtue/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.