How to Use rectitude in a Sentence

rectitude

noun
Definition of rectitudenext
Synonyms for rectitudenext
  • The president could serve out the rest of his term with the rectitude of a monk, and still be undone by his past sins.
    — Mckay Coppins, The Atlantic, 18 May 2017
  • Los Angeles needed a man on a white horse, somebody to clean things up, or at least give the place a sheen of rectitude.
    — Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 30 May 2023
  • Other than that, Elizabeth has been the model of rectitude and thrift in the public eye for over 50 years now.
    — Will Frears, NYMag.com, 20 Mar. 2011
  • In his statement about the search of Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Garland appeared the very image of rectitude.
    — WSJ, 17 Aug. 2022
  • Part of it was the intelligence and rectitude of his playing style.
    — Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2022
  • The case against the kangaroo business brings with it a sense of rectitude that transcends borders.
    — New York Times, 22 May 2021
  • All that black-and-white stiff-necked rectitude, the round face and level gaze, the high collar, the velvet and satin of a distant century, the hat—those hats!—flat, drab, lifeless.
    — Jeff MacGregor, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 June 2023
  • The district attorney was the picture of a gray-haired eminence, a figure of rectitude in a circus of a city.
    — Andrew Kirtzman, Washington Post, 8 Dec. 2022
  • But as piqued as tensions were, Cameron radiated confidence and a bedrock belief in the rectitude of the law.
    — Washington Post, 23 Sep. 2020
  • Grisham is garrulous and funny when talking about himself, much more so than the tone of rectitude in some of his books might suggest.
    — Janet Maslin, New York Times, 31 May 2017
  • At the same time, liberty must be accompanied by rectitude, at least to a degree.
    — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 21 Dec. 2020
  • The screening of who is entitled to burial does not include a background check on lifetime rectitude!
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Oct. 2020
  • Americans have argued about the rectitude of the Vietnam War for nearly half a century.
    — USA TODAY, 11 Sep. 2017
  • Like those of Jack Nicklaus and Nancy Lopez, both of whom have long been celebrated for their character and rectitude.
    — Eamon Lynch, Detroit Free Press, 10 Jan. 2021
  • Hjorth seems to be suggesting that rectitude can be the enemy of justice, and that neutrality can be a form of self-dealing.
    — Lauren Collins, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2019
  • The inner conflict Serkis evoked as Gollum becomes grand yet wary rectitude with Caesar.
    — A.o. Scott & Wesley Morris, New York Times, 7 Dec. 2017
  • Some were more serious than others, but each held on to their own notion of morality, honor, and rectitude.
    — Tom McTague, The Atlantic, 23 Jan. 2022
  • The bitter irony of the current scandal that broke this past week is that the allegations of corruption target a high official of the UAW, a union long known for the rectitude of its leaders like Reuther.
    — John Gallagher, Detroit Free Press, 29 July 2017
  • The trouble with her writing, and indeed with her whole political persona, is that she is obsessed with her own rectitude, and nobody else is.
    — Barton Swaim, WSJ, 15 Sep. 2017
  • Behind one man, a celebrity, there is a cult of personality; behind the other, a bureaucrat, there is a cult of rectitude.
    — Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 18 May 2017
  • But the path to a better future has been blocked by partisanship and misguided concepts of fiscal rectitude.
    — James Freeman, WSJ, 6 Aug. 2021
  • There are no longer any unifying national figures whose probity and rectitude could be held up as symbols of hope and civic instruction.
    — Michael Auslin, National Review, 3 Aug. 2017
  • But repetition takes a toll, and Hunter's testimony would have amplified doubts about the Bidens' rectitude.
    — Tom Benning, Dallas News, 6 Feb. 2020
  • Baker, a model of rectitude in contrast to Cohn’s recklessness, led the recount case in the 2000 election that elevated George W. Bush to the presidency.
    — Star Tribune, 6 Nov. 2020
  • Republicans used Democrats’ moral rectitude as a ruse for accomplishing their longstanding goal of pushing the poor off of the government dole.
    — Bryce Covert, The New Republic, 20 Aug. 2021
  • Lehrer’s professional rectitude and discipline (as well as his profound sense of patriotism) came from his hitch in the Marine Corps.
    — Paul Farhi, Washington Post, 23 Jan. 2020
  • But the brazenness with which the Thomases have flouted the most reasonable expectations of judicial rectitude is without precedent.
    — Richard Galant, CNN, 27 Mar. 2022
  • His own sense of rectitude, Flores said in 2019, shortly before his mother, Maria, died of breast cancer, had been instilled by her unwavering values.
    — New York Times, 4 Feb. 2022
  • Such German efforts are turning a page for the country after years of balanced budgets, driven by an orthodoxy of fiscal rectitude.
    — Craig Stirling, Fortune, 6 June 2020
  • One of the things that history is good for is puncturing our sanctimonious self-satisfaction about our own moral rectitude.
    — David Marchese, New York Times, 31 May 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rectitude.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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