arete means excellence, goodness; virtue. It carries an Arena rating of 1886, earned across 29 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, arete ranks #319 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #799 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #1,218 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #3,013 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
arete is pronounced /ˈæɹɪtiː/.
Why “arete” is a great word
The state of excellence or virtue achieved through the full realization of one’s purpose or function. From Ancient Greek ἀρετή (aretḗ, 'excellence, virtue, goodness'), first recorded in English use in the philosophical sense around 1550–70. Unlike 'virtue' (which implies a narrower moral goodness) or 'skill' (a specific learned ability), arete encompasses the integrated and consummate prowess of the entire being—intellectual, physical, and moral. It is the decisive clarity of the general’s strategy at dawn, the harmonious precision of the potter’s hand at the wheel, and the quiet integrity of a word kept when no one is watching—a fleeting alignment of action and essence, the terrifying standard of a thing doing exactly what it was made to do.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἀρετή (aretḗ).
noun
- excellence, goodness; virtue.e.g.“All arete is included in justice, Cyrnus.” — 1962, Lionel Ignacius Cusack Pearson, Popular Ethics in Ancient Greece, page 78 (translating a line from an old text)
- The proper state or condition for a human.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- aretaic 77% match — Of or pertaining to virtue or excellence. vs arete →
- aretegenic 76% match — Conducive to or producing virtue. vs arete →
- areteology 72% match — A system of thinking about ethics that centers on virtues. vs arete →
- aretecratic 69% match — Relating to or characteristic of a system of governance based on virtue, moral excellence, or civic merit. vs arete →
- aretecrat 67% match — A person who advocates for, supports, or is associated with a system of governance based on virtue, moral excellence, or civic merit. vs arete →
- aretaics 61% match — The ethical theory which excludes all relations between virtue and happiness; the science of virtue; contrasted with eudaemonics. vs arete →
- aretology 58% match — The part of moral philosophy that deals with virtue, its nature, and how to attain it. vs arete →
- superexcellence 58% match — Supreme excellence. vs arete →