See virtue signalling in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
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"etymology_text": "Initially used in academic works about religion to refer to ostentatious public displays of religiosity. Popularised by James Bartholomew in an April 2015 article in the British conservative magazine The Spectator.",
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"text": "People of poor personal character may mistake all virtue for virtue signalling because they cannot even imagine anyone truly having the relevant virtues but they are quite familiar with the concept of pretending to have traits for malevolent reasons.",
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"ref": "2013 January 7, “Keeping Track: Events, People on the Move, New Businesses, Good Works”, in Vancouver Sun, page C9:",
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"ref": "[2015 April 18, James Bartholomew, “The Awful Rise of ‘Virtue Signalling’”, in The Spectator, London, archived from the original on 13 Feb 2016:",
"text": "The poster goes on to assert: ‘We are part of a growing consciousness that is bigger than food — one that champions what’s good.’ This a particularly blatant example of the increasingly common phenomenon of what might be called ‘virtue signalling’ — indicating that you are kind, decent and virtuous.",
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"ref": "2019 January 8, Sophia Sleigh, “Ads for Butter, Olive Oil and Pesto Could Face Ban in War on Junk Food”, in Evening Standard, page 6:",
"text": "Conservative assembly member Andrew Boff said the ban was “reckless” at a time when TfL was facing a £1 billion deficit. “This is yet another example of the Mayor indulging in pointless virtue signalling and grandstanding,” he said.",
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"text": "Virtue-signalling, for those who have never felt drawn to the term, is the apparently modern crime of trying to be seen doing the right thing. The implication is that the virtue-signaller does not really believe what they are saying but simply wishes to be admired as a good person.",
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"ref": "2019 September 2, Sophie Elmhirst, “Looking Ahead: Kristen Stewart on Her Fluid Sexuality, Directorial Debut and Finding the Freedom to Be Herself”, in Harper's Bazaar, archived from the original on 24 May 2025:",
"text": "Sometimes, she’s sceptical: the virtue-signalling can be a little forced, a little on point. She names no names, obviously, but describes, tantalisingly, \"a couple of people who are like real activists, really at the forefront of progress, and I’m like, 'You are a deplorable fraud! And all you really care about is people looking at you.'\"",
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"ref": "2020 June 14, Rich Benjamin, “U.S. Corporations Are ‘Virtue Signaling’ Like Crazy on Race”, in Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 06 Jul 2020:",
"text": "The virtue-signaling invites cynicism over whether it is actually just a new means of advertising to Gen Z and millennials, two consumer groups deeply invested in issues of gender, sexuality and race.",
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"ref": "2023 May 25, David Smith, quoting Ron DeSantis, “Failure to launch: Twitter glitches deal double blow to Elon Musk and Ron DeSantis”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 03 Jun 2023:",
"text": "The governor went to have a dig at Trump. “Government is not entertainment,” he said. “It’s not about building a brand or virtue signaling.”",
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"text": "Sometimes, she’s sceptical: the virtue-signalling can be a little forced, a little on point. She names no names, obviously, but describes, tantalisingly, \"a couple of people who are like real activists, really at the forefront of progress, and I’m like, 'You are a deplorable fraud! And all you really care about is people looking at you.'\"",
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},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"word": "hyvesignalointi"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"word": "hyveliputus"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"word": "vertu ostentatoire"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "bien-pensance ostentatoire"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "vertu de façade"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "tartufferie"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "pharisaïsme"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"word": "die Flagge zeigen (moralische)"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Tugendschau"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"tags": [
"slang"
],
"word": "den Heiligenschein aufsetzen"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"lang_code": "is",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "dygðaskreyting"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "pokazywanie pozornych wartości"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "sygnalizacja cnoty"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "sinalização de virtude"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "postureo ético"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "alardeo moral"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"lang_code": "sv",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "godhetssignalering"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"lang_code": "sv",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "dygdsignalering"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"lang_code": "tr",
"sense": "expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous",
"word": "duyar kasma"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"James Bartholomew (journalist)",
"The Spectator"
],
"word": "virtue signalling"
}
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English non-lemma forms",
"English nouns",
"English uncountable nouns",
"English verb forms",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Afrikaans translations",
"Terms with Arabic translations",
"Terms with Danish translations",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with French translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Icelandic translations",
"Terms with Mandarin translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Portuguese translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations",
"Terms with Swedish translations",
"Terms with Turkish translations"
],
"etymology_text": "Initially used in academic works about religion to refer to ostentatious public displays of religiosity. Popularised by James Bartholomew in an April 2015 article in the British conservative magazine The Spectator.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "virtue signaling",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "virtue-signalling",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "virtue-signaling",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "verb form"
},
"expansion": "virtue signalling",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"form_of": [
{
"word": "virtue signal"
}
],
"glosses": [
"present participle and gerund of virtue signal"
],
"links": [
[
"virtue signal",
"virtue signal#English"
]
],
"tags": [
"form-of",
"gerund",
"participle",
"present"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈvɜɹtʃu sɪɡnəlɪŋ/",
"tags": [
"US"
]
},
{
"ipa": "[ˈvɝtʃ-]",
"tags": [
"US"
]
},
{
"audio": "virtue signaling US.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/26/Virtue_signaling_US.ogg/Virtue_signaling_US.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Virtue_signaling_US.ogg",
"tags": [
"US"
]
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"James Bartholomew (journalist)",
"The Spectator"
],
"word": "virtue signalling"
}
Download raw JSONL data for virtue signalling meaning in English (12.3kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (d6fca27 and 65e1673). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.