Rectitude is strict moral uprightness. Moral rectitude, a man of rectitude, unquestioned rectitude.
It is formal and a little stiff, and it suggests correctness rather than warmth. The Latin means straightness, and the same root gives rectangle and correct, so a person of rectitude is literally a straight one.
1nounrectitudeStrict moral uprightness.
“The judge was admired for his rectitude and had never taken a bribe.”
rectitude is an uprightness.
The Latin is to guide straight, the same straightness in correct. Rectitude is staying correct in your conduct and never once crooked.
hooks ontocorrect
Latin rectitudo means straightness, from rectus, straight.
Latin
rectitūdō — straightness, uprightness
Middle French
rectitude
Middle English
rectitude
English, today
rectitude
Built from
From Middle English rectitude, from Middle French rectitude, from Latin rectitūdō (“straightness, uprightness”), from Latin rectus (“straight”), perfect passive participle of regō (“regulate, guide”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA