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. By surface analysis, virtue +‎ -ous. Doublet of virtuoso and piecewise doublet of virtùous.

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

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: vir‧tu‧ous

virtuous (comparative more virtuous, superlative most virtuous)

1. Full of virtue; having excellent moral character.

   Synonyms: good, righteous, (obsolete) virtual; see also Thesaurus:virtuous

   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, page 171:

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

• virtuous circle, virtuous cycle, virtuous spiral
• virtuous couch
• virtuousness
• pseudovirtuous

• virtual
• virtue
• virtuosity

• “virtuous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “virtuous”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

virtuous

1. alternative form of vertuous