Virtue-signally
adj, slang ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Characterized by virtue signalling. informal, rare
"І know you’re not reading this column, Ted [Wheeler], because we don’t advertise for indie rock festivals or vegan grocery stores in our magazine (I mean, we will if asked, but I don’t think Whole Foods wants to be placed next to Top 5 Ways To Buy Sex With Bitcoin). So, it is a tad virtue-signally for me to say this, but for real: fuck you, Ted, and fuck the smart car you rode in on."
Example
More examples"І know you’re not reading this column, Ted [Wheeler], because we don’t advertise for indie rock festivals or vegan grocery stores in our magazine (I mean, we will if asked, but I don’t think Whole Foods wants to be placed next to Top 5 Ways To Buy Sex With Bitcoin). So, it is a tad virtue-signally for me to say this, but for real: fuck you, Ted, and fuck the smart car you rode in on."
Etymology
From virtue signal + -y.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.