adj. 1
Free from sin or guilt.
adj. 2
Moral and virtuous, perhaps to the point of sanctimony.
Human beings should take a righteous path, and so should art. We should promote kindness and beauty through art.
adj. 3
Awesome; great.

Related words

Word family: righteously righteousness

Choose the right word

Righteous, Innocent, Upright or Virtuous?

Innocent is a negative word, expressing less than righteous, upright, or virtuous, which imply knowledge of good and evil, with free choice of the good. A little child or a lamb is innocent; a tried and faithful man is righteous, upright, virtuous.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

moral Moral leadership is more powerful than any weapon.
worthy It's better to be envied than to be worthy of pity.
godly Methinks he is not godly enough.
virtuous A virtuous person doesn't lie, cheat, or steal.
innocent From this evidence it follows that he is innocent.
blameless He is blameless in this situation.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
righteous		rising
moral		rising
worthy		steady
godly		rising
virtuous		rising
innocent		rising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters: lit¹
4 letters: just¹, good¹, fair¹, holy², pure¹, neat¹, dope¹
5 letters: right¹, clean¹, moral², noble², godly², pyore
6 letters: honest², proper², decent², worthy², kosher², chaste¹
7 letters: upright², saintly², sinless
8 letters: innocent³, heavenly³, virtuous³, spotless²
9 letters: religious³, stainless², blameless², unsullied³, guiltless², undefiled
10 letters: immaculate⁴, upstanding³
11 letters: trustworthy³, justifiable⁵, unblemished³
12 letters: considerable⁵
13 letters: conscientious⁴

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (holy² = 2 syllables).