The AI-powered English dictionary
comparative more moral, superlative most moral
Of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behaviour, especially for teaching right behaviour. quotations examples
She had wandered without rule or guidance in a moral wilderness.
1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields
Conforming to a standard of right behaviour; sanctioned by or operative on one's conscience or ethical judgment. quotations examples
The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
Capable of right and wrong action. examples
Probable but not proved. examples
Positively affecting the mind, confidence, or will. examples
plural morals
(of a narrative) The ethical significance or practical lesson. quotations examples
We protest against the principle that the world of pure comedy is one into which no moral enters.
1841, Thomas Macaulay, Comic Dramatists of the Restoration (printed in Edinburgh Review, January 1841)
(chiefly in the plural) Moral practices or teachings: modes of conduct. examples
(obsolete) A morality play.
(slang, dated) A moral certainty.
(slang, dated) An exact counterpart.
third-person singular simple present morals, present participle moraling or moralling, simple past and past participle moraled or moralled
(intransitive) To moralize. examples