Meaning
The public expression of a moral or political position undertaken chiefly to display one's own goodness or gain social approval, rather than to achieve any practical good. Nearly always an accusation levelled at others; calling one's own statements virtue signalling is rare and usually ironic. Standard in British English and common internationally. Inherently dismissive and politically charged, most often used from the right against progressive gestures, though applicable across the spectrum. Regional use: General English; strongest in British political commentary.
Origin
British journalist James Bartholomew claims to have originated the pejorative use in a 2015 article in The Spectator, arguing that modern virtue requires no effort, only words or silently held beliefs displayed for an audience. The phrase itself is older: the Guardian's David Shariatmadari notes it had been used since at least 2004, appearing in religious academic works in 2010 and 2012, and some trace the underlying idea to signalling theory in evolutionary biology or even to the Gospel of Matthew's condemnation of ostentatious piety. After Bartholomew's piece, usage surged dramatically in British and then international political commentary, and it became a stock term in culture-war debates. The precise first use remains unresolved; what is documented is the 2015 popularisation, not the coinage of the phrase itself.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- virtue signal
- virtue signaling
- virtue signaller
- virtue signaller (UK) / virtue signaler (US)
Usage Examples
- He called the company's Earth Day post pure virtue signalling since its factories still ranked among the worst polluters.
- Accusing every donor of virtue signalling is an easy way to dismiss charity without engaging with it.
- Whether the gesture was sincere or virtue signalling, the fund it promoted did receive thousands of small contributions.