make a virtue of necessity

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

make a virtue of necessity (third-person singular simple present makes a virtue of necessity, present participle making a virtue of necessity, simple past and past participle made a virtue of necessity)

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.
   • 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]:

     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?

   • 1906, George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara, Preface:

     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.

Translations

to make the best of a difficult situation

• Czech: z nouze ctnost (cs)
• Dutch: van de nood een deugd maken
• German: aus der Not eine Tugend machen
• Greek: κάνω την ανάγκη φιλοτιμία (káno tin anágki filotimía)
• Hungarian: a maga javára fordítja
• Italian: fare di necessità virtù
• Spanish: hacer de la necesidad virtud

See also

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

References

• “make a virtue of necessity”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.