cardinal virtue

From Latin cardinālis (“pertaining to a hinge (hence applied to that on which something turns or depends), important, principal, chief”).

cardinal virtue (plural cardinal virtues)

1. (ethics, Christianity, often in the plural) One of the four foundational virtues identified by Greek and Christian philosophers, on which other virtues depend: justice, temperance, prudence, or fortitude.

   Coordinate term: minor virtue

   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC:

     Even the cardinal virtues cannot atone for half-cold entrées, as Lord Henry remarked once, in a discussion on the subject, and there is possibly a good deal to be said for his view.

• four virtues
• (Catholicism, less common) heavenly virtues

• “cardinal virtue”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.