How to Use virtuous in a Sentence

virtuous

adjective
Definition of virtuousnext
Synonyms for virtuousnext
  • She felt that she had made a virtuous decision by donating the money to charity.
  • This starts a virtuous cycle by which the organisms help the plants, and the plants help the organisms, on and on.
    — Erik Kobayashi-Solomon, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2022
  • This goddamn pressure to always be the smart one, the virtuous one, is dumb.
    — Damon Young, Washington Post, 14 Mar. 2022
  • The gesture felt defensive, as a virtuous fig leaf on the fair’s naked avarice.
    — Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 17 May 2021
  • May the new year bless you with goodness to abandon all vices and embrace all that are virtuous.
    — Woman's Day, 22 Dec. 2022
  • If so, Wynton Bernard might be the most virtuous person in sports.
    — Terry Baddoo, USA TODAY, 16 Aug. 2022
  • Or that her takeover of the therapy group as an angry army is a virtuous move.
    — Hillary Kelly, Vulture, 2 June 2021
  • For Paulson, the key to playing the character was zeroing in to the part of Tripp that felt virtuous.
    — Diane Garrett, Variety, 10 Nov. 2021
  • Quirks aside, a virtuous blend of on- and off-road performance.
    — Martin Padgett Jr., Car and Driver, 2 Aug. 2023
  • The final girl is usually a virtuous virgin—hence the palate of white lace.
    — Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 13 Mar. 2024
  • In the Stoic school of thought, happiness could be found only in a virtuous life.
    — Mary Stachyra Lopez, The Atlantic, 30 Apr. 2021
  • Aristotle, in Nicomachean Ethics, argues that a virtuous person does the right thing in the right way for the right reason.
    — Bruce Weinstein, Forbes, 31 Jan. 2022
  • Send in your questions about living a balanced, virtuous life: mind, body, and soul.
    — Mark Antonio Wright, National Review, 25 Apr. 2021
  • The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful and virtuous.
    — Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 21 May 2021
  • Two, just like there is a vicious cycle, there is a virtuous cycle.
    — Anna Oakes, Quartz, 6 June 2023
  • But for Irwin and Joan Jacobs, patience was indeed virtuous, and in more ways than one.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Apr. 2021
  • Tell them to sit in their most virtuous uncomfortable chair and take a listen.
    — Quartz Staff, Quartz, 6 Dec. 2021
  • Work and health care support each other in a virtuous cycle.
    — Chris Farrell, Fortune Well, 6 Apr. 2023
  • If patience is a virtue, Padres fans are as virtuous as Mother Teresa.
    — Bryce Millercolumnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Oct. 2022
  • Smith is a workaholic, and a win-aholic, those most virtuous and therefore invisible of vices.
    — Alexandra Jacobs, New York Times, 11 Nov. 2021
  • The moment enshrines a vision of the poet as a virtuous, suffering witness to the injustice of the state.
    — Sophie Pinkham, Harper's Magazine, 25 May 2021
  • Think of it as the virtuous cycle of the lending and saving relationship that banks have with their customers.
    — Rob Wile, NBC News, 24 Sep. 2022
  • Leave the virtuous egg white omelets for another day and make something a bit more exciting.
    — Casey Barber, CNN, 15 Apr. 2022
  • For Aristotle, habit was an aid in the quest for the virtuous life, a way of unifying the will and directing it, through practice, toward what is good.
    — Meghan O’Gieblyn, Harper’s Magazine , 4 Jan. 2022
  • And yet this is not a triumph for the underdog forces of all that is right and virtuous over their uncaring oppressors.
    — Rory Smith, New York Times, 22 Sep. 2023
  • The idea that working hard, and starting to work early in life, is somehow virtuous simply isn't true, and as many of us know all too well, the hustle can be harmful.
    — Lydia Wang, refinery29.com, 1 Aug. 2021
  • In ancient Greece and Rome, swimming was considered a virtuous pastime for men and boys.
    — Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 May 2024
  • That’s five years ahead of General Motors, in a sign there may be a virtuous cycle at work in the auto industry.
    — Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 2021
  • In his telling all the American policemen were honest and all the politicians virtuous.
    — Daniyal Mueenuddin, The New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2021
  • Sticking it to rich people and giving a (relative) bargain to poor people sounds kind of virtuous.
    — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 24 May 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'virtuous.' 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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