Idiom
make a virtue of necessity
Meaning
To make the best of a difficult situation; to recast or portray an action or situation in which one has no alternatives as an action or situation which was deliberately chosen on its merits.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“We had no car, so we made a virtue of necessity and walked.”
“Since the flight was cancelled, we made a virtue of necessity and spent an extra day exploring the city.”
“Faced with a limited budget, the architect made a virtue of necessity by using reclaimed materials to create a unique, modern aesthetic.”
Examples
simple
“We had no car, so we made a virtue of necessity and walked.”
contextual
“Since the flight was cancelled, we made a virtue of necessity and spent an extra day exploring the city.”
complex
“Faced with a limited budget, the architect made a virtue of necessity by using reclaimed materials to create a unique, modern aesthetic.”
Key words
Related idioms
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