Dictionary

make a virtue of necessity en · VERB

Pronunciation

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Meanings

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.
   • Nietzsche, as I gather, regarded the slave-morality as having been invented and imposed on the world by slaves making a virtue of necessity and a religion of their servitude. 1906, George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara, Preface:
   • 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 Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

Forms

Relateds

necessity is the mother of invention · make the best of a bad bargain

Translations (8)

nl van de nood een deugd maken (to make the best of a difficult situation) · es hacer de la necesidad virtud (to make the best of a difficult situation) · cs z nouze ctnost (to make the best of a difficult situation) · el κάνω την ανάγκη φιλοτιμία (to make the best of a difficult situation) · hu a maga javára fordítja (to make the best of a difficult situation) · sv göra en dygd av nödvändigheten (to make the best of a difficult situation) · it fare di necessità virtù (to make the best of a difficult situation) · de aus der Not eine Tugend machen (to make the best of a difficult situation)