Virtue refers to accordance with moral principles; conformity of behaviour or thought with the strictures of morality; good moral conduct. It commonly describes a particular manifestation of moral excellence in a person; an admirable quality, specifically, each of several qualities held to be particularly important, including the four cardinal virtues, the three theological virtues, or the seven virtues opposed to the seven deadly sins, and an inherently advantageous or excellent quality of something or someone; a favourable point, an advantage, which gives the term a broader and more practical sense than a single short definition would suggest. Depending on context, it can also point to a creature embodying divine power, specifically one of the orders of heavenly beings, traditionally ranked above angels and below archangels, specifically, moral conduct in sexual behaviour, especially of women; chastity, and the inherent power of a god, or other supernatural being, so the category can cover literal uses, related ideas, and more figurative extensions of the same core meaning. Taken together, these meanings present Virtue as a flexible theme rather than a narrowly technical label, covering the central idea people usually mean when they use the word while still leaving room for closely related senses that appear in real language.
