Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Great technical skill or captivating personal style, especially as exhibited in the arts.
  • noun An appreciation for or interest in fine objects of art.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Lovers of the elegant arts collectively; the virtuosi.
  • noun In the fine arts, exceptional skill; highly cultivated dexterity; thorough control of technic.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality or state of being a virtuoso; in a bad sense, the character of one in whom mere artistic feeling or æsthetic cultivation takes the place of religious character; sentimentalism.
  • noun Virtuosos, collectively.
  • noun An art or study affected by virtuosos.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the technical skills and fluent style of a virtuoso

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun technical skill or fluency or style exhibited by a virtuoso

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

virtuoso +‎ -ity (“quality of”); the terminal -o drops out.

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Examples

  • That's because the inherent virtue of verbal virtuosity is assumed.

    That's the moment I woke up, thank the Lord Matthew Guerrieri 2008

  • 'We want to show that impairment can actually enhance creativity and that virtuosity is not the just the domain of the able-bodied.'

    Disability arts growing in Cambodia BA Haller 2008

  • That's because the inherent virtue of verbal virtuosity is assumed.

    Archive 2008-11-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2008

  • One of the main rules of virtuosity is that the mechanism has to be in plain view, and the technique has to be easily grasped by the observer.

    Archive 2007-01-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2007

  • One of the main rules of virtuosity is that the mechanism has to be in plain view, and the technique has to be easily grasped by the observer.

    New Romantics Matthew Guerrieri 2007

  • Perhaps many of the pictures of John Marin were not always satisfying in the tactile sense because many of them are taken up with an inevitable passion for technical virtuosity, which is no mean distinction in itself but we are not satisfied as once we were with this passion for audacity and virtuosity.

    Adventures in the Arts Informal Chapters on Painters, Vaudeville, and Poets Marsden Hartley

  • Through its role as a mediator, the church may evoke the religious sentiments of the people by sharing the stories and experiences of these heroes in an attempt to evoke the "virtuosity" and vision of the people.

    Philocrites: Schleiermacher on true religious fellowship. 1998

  • Through its role as a mediator, the church may evoke the religious sentiments of the people by sharing the stories and experiences of these heroes in an attempt to evoke the "virtuosity" and vision of the people.

    Philocrites: March 1998 Archives 1998

  • Lasch can see such developments as a decline in standards only because he reduces the multifaceted nature of sport to a single element — the display of "virtuosity" by a "superior artist" before an audience, much like a concert recital.

    Corrupt Sports: An Exchange Foner, Eric 1977

  • His playing was described by Henry T. Finck, the distinguished American musical critic, as being of “that splendid kind of virtuosity which makes one forget the technique.”

    Edward MacDowell Porte, John F 1922

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