Word.ws English Dictionary

makes a virtue of necessity

makes a virtue of necessity is the third-person singular simple present indicative of make a virtue of necessity.

Meaning of make a virtue of necessity

Verb

make a virtue of necessity (third-person singular simple present makes a virtue of necessity, present participle making a virtue of necessity, simple past and past participle made a virtue of necessity)

  1. (idiomatic) To make the best of a difficult situation; to recast or portray an action or situation in which one has no alternatives as an action or situation which was deliberately chosen on its merits.
    • Indeed, because you are a banish'd man,
      Therefore, above the rest, we parley to you:
      Are you content to be our general?
      To make a virtue of necessity
      And live, as we do, in this wilderness?c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...

Questions about makes a virtue of necessity

What is makes a virtue of necessity the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Makes a virtue of necessity is the third-person singular simple present indicative of make a virtue of necessity.

Words near makes a virtue of necessity in the dictionary

  1. makes a stand
  2. makes a statement
  3. makes a stick for one's own back
  4. makes a time
  5. makes a Virginia fence
  6. makes a virtue of necessity
  7. makes a wrong turn at Albuquerque
  8. makes after
  9. makes against
  10. makes all the difference
  11. makes all the running

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: makes a virtue of necessity (page history and authors); make a virtue of necessity (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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