diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/67407-pip-virtualenv_command-args.yml b/changelogs/fragments/67407-pip-virtualenv_command-args.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b072a17f487
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/67407-pip-virtualenv_command-args.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - pip - The virtualenv_command option can now include arguments without
+    requiring the full path to the binary.
+    (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/52275)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/language/pip.py b/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/language/pip.py
index 19744623d0c..9ce74e6b09d 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/language/pip.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/language/pip.py
@@ -471,23 +471,30 @@ def setup_virtualenv(module, env, chdir, out, err):
     if module.check_mode:
         module.exit_json(changed=True)
 
-    cmd = module.params['virtualenv_command']
-    if os.path.basename(cmd) == cmd:
-        cmd = module.get_bin_path(cmd, True)
+    cmd = shlex.split(module.params['virtualenv_command'])
 
+    # Find the binary for the command in the PATH
+    # and switch the command for the explicit path.
+    if os.path.basename(cmd[0]) == cmd[0]:
+        cmd[0] = module.get_bin_path(cmd[0], True)
+
+    # Add the system-site-packages option if that
+    # is enabled, otherwise explicitly set the option
+    # to not use system-site-packages if that is an
+    # option provided by the command's help function.
     if module.params['virtualenv_site_packages']:
-        cmd += ' --system-site-packages'
+        cmd.append('--system-site-packages')
     else:
-        cmd_opts = _get_cmd_options(module, cmd)
+        cmd_opts = _get_cmd_options(module, cmd[0])
         if '--no-site-packages' in cmd_opts:
-            cmd += ' --no-site-packages'
+            cmd.append('--no-site-packages')
 
     virtualenv_python = module.params['virtualenv_python']
     # -p is a virtualenv option, not compatible with pyenv or venv
-    # this if validates if the command being used is not any of them
+    # this conditional validates if the command being used is not any of them
     if not any(ex in module.params['virtualenv_command'] for ex in ('pyvenv', '-m venv')):
         if virtualenv_python:
-            cmd += ' -p%s' % virtualenv_python
+            cmd.append('-p%s' % virtualenv_python)
         elif PY3:
             # Ubuntu currently has a patch making virtualenv always
             # try to use python2.  Since Ubuntu16 works without
@@ -495,7 +502,7 @@ def setup_virtualenv(module, env, chdir, out, err):
             # the upstream behaviour of using the python which invoked
             # virtualenv to determine which python is used inside of
             # the virtualenv (when none are specified).
-            cmd += ' -p%s' % sys.executable
+            cmd.append('-p%s' % sys.executable)
 
     # if venv or pyvenv are used and virtualenv_python is defined, then
     # virtualenv_python is ignored, this has to be acknowledged
@@ -505,7 +512,7 @@ def setup_virtualenv(module, env, chdir, out, err):
                 ' using the venv module or pyvenv as virtualenv_command'
         )
 
-    cmd = "%s %s" % (cmd, env)
+    cmd.append(env)
     rc, out_venv, err_venv = module.run_command(cmd, cwd=chdir)
     out += out_venv
     err += err_venv
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/pip/tasks/pip.yml b/test/integration/targets/pip/tasks/pip.yml
index c119f5726e2..477d4e601b0 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/pip/tasks/pip.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/pip/tasks/pip.yml
@@ -517,6 +517,32 @@
       that: "'distribute' in remove_distribute.cmd"
   when: ansible_python.version.major == 2
 
+### test virtualenv_command begin ###
+
+- name: Test virtualenv command with arguments
+  when: "ansible_system == 'Linux'"
+  block:
+    - name: make sure the virtualenv does not exist
+      file:
+        state: absent
+        name: "{{ output_dir }}/pipenv"
+
+    # ref: https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/52275
+    - name: install using virtualenv_command with arguments
+      pip:
+        name: "{{ pip_test_package }}"
+        virtualenv: "{{ output_dir }}/pipenv"
+        virtualenv_command: "virtualenv --verbose"
+        state: present
+      register: version13
+
+    - name: ensure install using virtualenv_command with arguments was successful
+      assert:
+        that:
+          - "version13 is success"
+
+### test virtualenv_command end ###
+
 # https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/68592
 # Handle pre-release version numbers in check_mode for already-installed
 # packages.