virtuousvir‧tu‧ous /ˈvɜːtʃuəs $ ˈvɜːr-/ adjective 
Examples
a virtuous man Sue considered herself very virtuous because she neither drank nor smoked.2 old use not willing to have sex, at least until you are married—virtuously adverb
ExamplesEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- Father Tom was a hard-working, virtuous man, liked and respected by everyone.
- The story repeats the theme of the unfaithful husband and virtuous wife.
- They wanted him to marry a virtuous young woman from a respectable family.
- All the characters are sensitive, virtuous beings and the pursuit of happiness is a constant goal with each of them.
- Certainly censorship should not be allowed to masquerade as virtuous compromise, but nor should commitment to free speech go unexamined.
- However, Hume thought that qualities other than benevolence were virtuous if they produced the feeling of approval.
- Misfortune was surmounted, and misfortune became too great a burden; virtuous reputations were earned, and scandalous stories were recounted.
- Why did she feel so much more a person when she was not being virtuous?
Longman Language Activatormorally good person► good
Collocations kind, honest, and helpful: · Jean's a very good person - she's always ready to help.· He had always tried to lead a good life.· I wish I could be a better person.· There are good and bad people wherever you go.
► decent someone who is decent is good and honest according to the normal standards of society: · Decent citizens have nothing to fear from the police.· a decent, honest, hard-working woman· Decent members of the public will be outraged by this decision.
► respectable behaving and living your life in a way that is considered morally correct by society, especially because of the family you come from: · Tony was always in trouble with the police when he was young, but now he's a respectable married man.· The girls in the school all come from very respectable families.
► upright written someone who is upright is honest, obeys the law, and behaves according to the moral standards of society: · Most upright, law-abiding citizens have very little contact with the police.· Maggie's parents set her a good example, being upright and hard-working people.
► virtuous formal very good and honest and always behaving according to the highest moral standards: · Father Tom was a hard-working, virtuous man, liked and respected by everyone.· They wanted him to marry a virtuous young woman from a respectable family.
► saint someone who is unusually kind, generous, helpful etc and is therefore considered to be very special: · Your mother's a saint. She's done so much to help us.· I always thought she was a selfish woman but she was an absolute saint compared to Abigail.
► saintly behaving in a very good way, especially by living your life in a very pure and holy way: · He was a saintly man who always put others before himself.· There were aspects of her life that were not as saintly as the Victorians liked to believe.
► be an example to to be so good or to have achieved something so good that other people would improve if they tried to be like you: · You're a very brave young man. An example to all of us!· His discipline and organization should be an example to teachers everywhere.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSNOUN► circle
1formal behaving in a very honest and moral way OPP wicked: · How do you pull off this virtuous circle?· In good times trade and investment links set up a virtuous circle where growth in one economy boosts others.· One view was that they form a kind of virtuous circle of equally basic expressions definable in terms of each other.
► man· Everybody agreed that Senator Daley was a virtuous man.
a virtuous man Sue considered herself very virtuous because she neither drank nor smoked.2 old use not willing to have sex, at least until you are married—virtuously adverb