arête

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Both poems celebrated arete — a Greek virtue which can be translated in English as “excellence” and “success,” but must be understood as a moral characteristic as much as a physical or mental one.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2019

In doing so, they sacrifice the wallet’s core virtue—what Plato would have called its arete.

From Slate • Feb. 19, 2015

Yet here, in Mr. Mariota, we seem to have a young man whose stellar athletic accomplishments and exemplary off-field conduct is worthy, and emblematic of, the ancient Greek ideal of excellence known as arete.

From New York Times • Dec. 13, 2014

“The themes of Walt’s need to express his excellence — arete — has been there from the beginning,” Cyrino said.

From Forbes • Sep. 28, 2013

From this point the route angled steeply upward along a graceful arete of wind-compacted snow that culminated in the South Summit—where I arrived at 11:00 to find a second, even worse bottleneck.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer