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  1. righteous love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Morally upright; without guilt or sin: a righteous parishioner.
  2. adj. In accordance with virtue or morality: a righteous judgment.
  3. adj. Morally justifiable: righteous anger. See Synonyms at moral.
  4. n. Righteous people considered as a group.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Upright; incorrupt; virtuous; conforming in character and conduct to a right standard; free from guilt or sin; obedient to the moral or divine law.
  2. In accordance with right; authorized by moral or divine law; just and good; right; worthy.
  3. Proper; fitting: as, righteous indignation.
  4. Synonyms Righteous, Rightful. Upright, Just; honest, equitable, fair; godly, holy, saintly. The first three of the italicized words go back directly to the first principles of right, while just, though expressing quite as much conformity to right, suggests more of the intricate questions arising out of the relations of men. Upright gets force from the idea of physical perpendicularity, a standing up straight by the standard of right; righteous carries up the idea of right to the standards, motives, and sanctions of religion; rightful applies not to conduct, but to claims by right: as, he is the rightful owner of the land; just suggests by derivation a written law, but presumes that the law is a right one, or that there is above if, and if necessary overruling it, a law of God. This last is the uniform Biblical usage. Just generally implies the exercise of some power or authority. See justice and honesty.
  5. To make righteous; justify.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. free from sin or guilt
  2. adj. moral and virtuous, suggesting sanctimonious
  3. adj. justified morally
  4. adj. slang, US awesome
  5. v. To make righteous; specifically, to justify religiously, to absolve from sin.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Doing, or according with, that which is right; yielding to all their due; just; equitable; especially, free from wrong, guilt, or sin; holy.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. characterized by or proceeding from accepted standards of morality or justice
  2. adj. morally justified

Etymologies

  1. From earlier rightuous, rightwose, rightwos, rightwise, from Middle English rightwise, rightwis, from Old English rihtwīs ("righteous, just, right, justifiable"), corresponding to right +‎ -wise (with assimilation of second element to -ous), or to right +‎ wise (“way, manner”). Cognate with Scots richtwis ("righteous"), Old High German rehtwīsic ("righteous, just"), Icelandic réttvíss ("righteous, just"). Compare also thefteous, mighteous. (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English ryghtuous, alteration of rihtwise, from Old English rihtwīs : riht, right; see right + -wīse, -wise. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Although Adam was created in the image of his Maker in respect to being endowed with powers of {13} understanding and reasoning, and although he was made capable of learning and doing righteousness, he was not originally _made righteous_, forasmuch as he sinned: but those whom God makes righteous sin no more, because all the works of God are perfect.”

    An Essay on the Scriptural Doctrine of Immortality

  • “The one may use the term righteous indignation; the other, the word anger.”

    A Handbook of Ethical Theory

  • “Iran's Foreign Ministry also condemned Libya for suppressing what it called the "righteous demands" of Libyans engaging in a regional Islamic awakening.”

    Voice of America: 'Outraged' UN Chief Tells Libya's Gadhafi to Stop Violence

  • “He meant to leave town a sputtering, raging man, that minister, -- full of what he called righteous wrath.”

    Green Valley

  • “She had been spouting and sputtering what she called her righteous indignation for some minutes, when after a brief pause and with the angry expression still on her face she exclaimed: "Well, I don't care, it's all peace within.”

    Nerves and Common Sense

  • “The industry of the righteous is alone truly successful, while the earnings of the wicked tempt and lead to sin.”

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

  • “It is the mark of what we call a righteous decision, that it is made directly and for its own sake.”

    Lay Morals

  • “The light of the righteous is as that of the sun, which may be eclipsed and clouded, but will continue; that of the wicked is as a lamp of their own kindling, which will presently go out and is easily put out.”

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)

  • “Even Barack Obama took a hard line against the Taliban, initially promising that under his presidency the U.S. would send more troops to Afghanistan in order to win what he called a righteous war.”

    Thestar.com - Home Page

  • “But if you acknowledge that (1) Paul is misquoting Psalm 14:3 which actually says "there is none that doeth good, no, not one," and (2) that Paul is taking it out of its context where it is clearly limited to the "workers of iniquity" as opposed to "my people," and (3) that Jesus Himself says there is such a thing as righteous men who need no repentance in Luke 15:7, Ezekiel 18 speaks of men being righteous via repentance, and the WHOLE of Scripture uses the term righteous to refer to men who repent and live the best life they can for God.”

    Triablogue-osphere

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synonyms (13)

Words with the same meaning

  1. just
  2. upright
  1. equitable
  2. rightful
  1. virtuous
  2. uncorrupt
  1. holy
  2. honest
  1. godly
  2. god-fearing
  1. good
  2. right
  1. goody

equivalents (5)

Other words for ‘righteous’

  1. upright
  1. just
  1. sound
  1. good
  1. moral

antonyms (1)

Words with the opposite meaning

  1. immoral

same context (10)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. virtuous
  2. holy
  1. honorable
  2. manly
  1. prudent
  2. lawful
  1. heroic
  2. magnanimous
  1. passionate
  2. laudable

reverse dictionary (48)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. rightwise
  2. ryghtwys
  3. righteousness
  4. righteous
  5. rightful
  6. unjust
  7. upright
  8. work
  9. godly
  1. just
  2. justify
  3. overrighteous
  4. righteously
  5. ruly
  6. self-righteous
  7. unrighteous
  8. jeremiad
  9. idolatrous
  1. holily
  2. Pelagianism
  3. Sikhism
  4. Gog and Magog
  5. pharisee
  6. pharisaic
  7. strait
  8. paradise
  9. apocalypse
  1. prude
  2. limbo
  3. goody-goody
  4. indignation
  5. outrage
  6. pharisaism
  7. righteoused
  8. self-righteousness
  9. virtuous
  1. atheism
  2. Athene
  3. chiliasm
  4. conscientious
  5. good
  6. gracious
  7. holy
  8. pious
  9. right
  1. rightfully
  2. lamanite
  3. truth

tags (3)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. morality
  1. cvcccvvvc
  1. jack_black

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  • brobbins learned, actively seeks knowledge Jul 23, 2009

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‘righteous’ has been looked up 1771 times, added to 36 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 13.