of, pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong; ethical: moral attitudes.
2.
expressing or conveying truths or counsel as to right conduct, as a speaker or a literary work; moralizing: a moral novel.
3.
founded on the fundamental principles of right conduct rather than on legalities, enactment, or custom: moral obligations.
4.
capable of conforming to the rules of right conduct: a moral being.
5.
conforming to the rules of right conduct (opposed to immoral): a moral man.
6.
virtuous in sexual matters; chaste.
7.
of, pertaining to, or acting on the mind, feelings, will, or character: moral support.
8.
resting upon convincing grounds of probability; virtual: a moral certainty.
–noun
9.
the moral teaching or practical lesson contained in a fable, tale, experience, etc.
10.
the embodiment or type of something.
11.
morals, principles or habits with respect to right or wrong conduct.
[Origin: 1300–50; ME < L mōrālis, equiv. to mōr- (s. of mōs) usage, custom + -ālis-al1]
—Related forms
mor·al·less, adjective
—Synonyms 5. upright, honest, straightforward, open, virtuous, honorable. 11. integrity, standards, morality. Morals,ethics refer to rules and standards of conduct and practice. Morals refers to generally accepted customs of conduct and right living in a society, and to the individual's practice in relation to these: the morals of our civilization. Ethics now implies high standards of honest and honorable dealing, and of methods used, esp. in the professions or in business: ethics of the medical profession.
Of or concerned with the judgment of the goodness or badness of human action and character: moral scrutiny; a moral quandary.
Teaching or exhibiting goodness or correctness of character and behavior: a moral lesson.
Conforming to standards of what is right or just in behavior; virtuous: a moral life.
Arising from conscience or the sense of right and wrong: a moral obligation.
Having psychological rather than physical or tangible effects: a moral victory; moral support.
Based on strong likelihood or firm conviction, rather than on the actual evidence: a moral certainty.
n.
The lesson or principle contained in or taught by a fable, a story, or an event.
A concisely expressed precept or general truth; a maxim.
morals Rules or habits of conduct, especially of sexual conduct, with reference to standards of right and wrong: a person of loose morals; a decline in the public morals.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mōrālis, from mōs, mōr-, custom; see mē-1 in Indo-European roots.]
mor'al·ly adv.
Synonyms: These adjectives mean in accord with right or good conduct. Moral applies to personal character and behavior, especially sexual conduct: "Our moral sense dictates a clearcut preference for these societies which share with us an abiding respect for individual human rights" (Jimmy Carter).
Ethical stresses idealistic standards of right and wrong: "Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants" (Omar N. Bradley).
Virtuous implies moral excellence and loftiness of character: "The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous" (Frederick Douglass).
Righteous emphasizes moral uprightness; when it is applied to actions, reactions, or impulses, it often implies justifiable outrage: "He was . . . stirred by righteous wrath" (John Galsworthy).
c.1340, "of or pertaining to character or temperament" (good or bad), from O.Fr. moral, from L. moralis "proper behavior of a person in society," lit. "pertaining to manners," coined by Cicero ("De Fato," II.i) to translate Gk. ethikos (see ethics) from L. mos (gen. moris) "one's disposition," in pl., "mores, customs, manners, morals," of uncertain origin. Meaning "morally good, conforming to moral rules," is first recorded c.1386 of stories, 1638 of persons. Original value-neutral sense preserved in moral support, moral victory, with sense of "pertaining to character as opposed to physical action." The noun meaning "moral exposition of a story" is attested from c.1500. Moralistic formed 1865.
concerned with principles of right and wrong or conforming to standards of behavior and character based on those principles; "moral sense"; "a moral scrutiny"; "a moral lesson"; "a moral quandary"; "moral convictions"; "a moral life" [ant: immoral]
2.
psychological rather than physical or tangible in effect; "a moral victory"; "moral support"
noun
1.
the significance of a story or event; "the moral of the story is to love thy neighbor"
De*mure"\, a. [Perh. from OF. de murs (i. e., de bonnes murs of good manners); de of + murs, mours, meurs, mors, F. m?urs, fr. L. mores (sing. mos) manners, morals (see Moral); or more prob. fr. OF. me["u]r, F. m[^u]r mature, ripe (see Mature) in a phrase preceded by de, as de m[^u]re conduite of mature conduct.]1. Of sober or serious mien; composed and decorous in bearing; of modest look; staid; grave. Sober, steadfast, and demure. --Milton. Nan was very much delighted in her demure way, and that delight showed itself in her face and in her clear bright eyes. --W. Black. 2. Affectedly modest, decorous, or serious; making a show of gravity. A cat lay, and looked so demure, as if there had been neither life nor soul in her. --L'Estrange. Miss Lizzy, I have no doubt, would be as demure and coquettish, as if ten winters more had gone over her head. --Miss Mitford.
Mor"al\, a. [F., fr. It. moralis, fr. mos, moris, manner, custom, habit, way of life, conduct.]1. Relating to duty or obligation; pertaining to those intentions and actions of which right and wrong, virtue and vice, are predicated, or to the rules by which such intentions and actions ought to be directed; relating to the practice, manners, or conduct of men as social beings in relation to each other, as respects right and wrong, so far as they are properly subject to rules. Keep at the least within the compass of moral actions, which have in them vice or virtue. --Hooker. Mankind is broken loose from moral bands. --Dryden. She had wandered without rule or guidance in a moral wilderness. --Hawthorne. 2. Conformed to accepted rules of right; acting in conformity with such rules; virtuous; just; as, a moral man. Used sometimes in distinction from religious; as, a moral rather than a religious life. The wiser and more moral part of mankind. --Sir M. Hale. 3. Capable of right and wrong action or of being governed by a sense of right; subject to the law of duty. A moral agent is a being capable of those actions that have a moral quality, and which can properly be denominated good or evil in a moral sense. --J. Edwards. 4. Acting upon or through one's moral nature or sense of right, or suited to act in such a manner; as, a moral arguments; moral considerations. Sometimes opposed to material and physical; as, moral pressure or support. 5. Supported by reason or probability; practically sufficient; -- opposed to legal or demonstrable; as, a moral evidence; a moral certainty. 6. Serving to teach or convey a moral; as, a moral lesson; moral tales. Moral agent, a being who is capable of acting with reference to right and wrong. Moral certainty, a very high degree or probability, although not demonstrable as a certainty; a probability of so high a degree that it can be confidently acted upon in the affairs of life; as, there is a moral certainty of his guilt. Moral insanity, insanity, so called, of the moral system; badness alleged to be irresponsible. Moral philosophy, the science of duty; the science which treats of the nature and condition of man as a moral being, of the duties which result from his moral relations, and the reasons on which they are founded. Moral play, an allegorical play; a morality. [Obs.] Moral sense, the power of moral judgment and feeling; the capacity to perceive what is right or wrong in moral conduct, and to approve or disapprove, independently of education or the knowledge of any positive rule or law. Moral theology, theology applied to morals; practical theology; casuistry.
Mor"al\, n. 1. The doctrine or practice of the duties of life; manner of living as regards right and wrong; conduct; behavior; -- usually in the plural. Corrupt in their morals as vice could make them. --South. 2. The inner meaning or significance of a fable, a narrative, an occurrence, an experience, etc.; the practical lesson which anything is designed or fitted to teach; the doctrine meant to be inculcated by a fiction; a maxim. Thus may we gather honey from the weed, And make a moral of the devil himself. --Shak. To point a moral, or adorn a tale. --Johnson. We protest against the principle that the world of pure comedy is one into which no moral enters. --Macaulay. 3. A morality play. See Morality, 5.
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