- virtue
- nounADJECTIVE▪ cardinal, great, important, real▪ chief, primary▪ heroic▪ inherent▪
There is, of course. no inherent virtue in moderation.
▪The Slavophiles believed in the inherent virtue of the Russian people.
▪ old-fashioned, traditional▪He understands the traditional virtue of hard work.
▪ Christian, ethical, moral, theological▪the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity
▪ intellectual, political, social▪ civic, public▪Machiavelli's idea of civic virtue
▪ domestic▪She was seen as a paragon of domestic virtue.
▪ personal (esp. AmE), private▪ human▪ female, feminine, manly, masculine▪ easy▪women of easy virtue (= with low standards of sexual morality)
VERB + VIRTUE▪ have, possess▪Her book has the cardinal virtue of simplicity.
▪ embody▪Philippe embodies the French virtues of charm and grace.
▪ cultivate, practise/practice▪He taught his children to practise/practice the virtues of temperance and chastity.
▪ espouse, extol, preach, promote, tout (esp. AmE)▪He never stops extolling the virtues of the free market.
▪ inculcate, teach▪ celebrate▪a story celebrating the virtues of democracy
PHRASES▪ make a virtue of necessity (= to manage to gain an advantage from sth you have to do and cannot avoid)▪ a paragon of virtue▪It would have taken a paragon of virtue not to feel jealous.
Collocations dictionary. 2013.