Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Fortitude
1.
Power to resist attack; strength; firmness.
[Obs.]
The
fortitude
of the place is best known to you. Shakespeare
2.
That strength or firmness of mind which enables a person to encounter danger with coolness and courage, or to bear pain or adversity without murmuring, depression, or despondency; passive courage; resolute endurance; firmness in confronting or bearing up against danger or enduring trouble.
Extolling patience as the truest
fortitude
. Milton.
Webster 1828 Edition
Fortitude
FOR'TITUDE
,Noun.
That strength or firmness of mind or soul which enables a person to encounter danger with coolness and courage, or to bear pain or adversity without murmuring, depression or despondency. Fortitude is the basis or source of genuine courage or intrepidity in danger, of patience in suffering, of forbearance under injuries, and of magnanimity in all conditions of life. We sometimes confound the effect with the cause, and use fortitude as synonymous with courage or patience; but courage is an active virtue or vice, and patience is the effect of fortitude.
Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.
Definition 2024
fortitude
fortitude
English
Noun
fortitude (plural fortitudes)
- Mental or emotional strength that enables courage in the face of adversity.
- 1612, William Shakespeare, King Henry VIII, act 3, scene 2:
- . . . I am able now, methinks,
- Out of a fortitude of soul I feel,
- To endure more miseries.
- c. 1794, Jane Austen, Lady Susan, chapter 1:
- I shall soon have need for all my fortitude, as I am on the point of separation from my own daughter.
- 1906, Joseph Conrad, The Mirror of the Sea, chapter 21:
- She may be saved by your efforts, by your resource and fortitude bearing up against the heavy weight of guilt and failure.
- 2012 Jan. 30, Fareed Zakaria, "The Strategist," Time:
- Mitt Romney . . . charges that Obama is an appeaser who apologizes for America, lacks fortitude and is "tentative, indecisive, timid and nuanced."
- 1612, William Shakespeare, King Henry VIII, act 3, scene 2:
- (archaic) Physical strength.
- 1604, William Shakespeare, Othello, act 1, scene 3:
- DUKE OF VENICE: The Turk with a most mighty preparation makes for
- Cyprus. Othello, the fortitude of the place is best
- known to you.
- 1604, William Shakespeare, Othello, act 1, scene 3:
Synonyms
- (mental or emotional strength): inner strength, moxie, resolve
Translations
mental or emotional strength
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