| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| moral |
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| SYLLABICATION: | mor·al |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  môr  l, m r- |
| ADJECTIVE: | 1. Of or concerned with the judgment of the goodness or badness of human action and character: moral scrutiny; a moral quandary. 2. Teaching or exhibiting goodness or correctness of character and behavior: a moral lesson. 3. Conforming to standards of what is right or just in behavior; virtuous: a moral life. 4. Arising from conscience or the sense of right and wrong: a moral obligation. 5. Having psychological rather than physical or tangible effects: a moral victory; moral support. 6. Based on strong likelihood or firm conviction, rather than on the actual evidence: a moral certainty. | | NOUN: | 1. The lesson or principle contained in or taught by a fable, a story, or an event. 2. A concisely expressed precept or general truth; a maxim. 3. 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. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Old French, from Latin m r lis, from ms, mr-, custom. See m -1 in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | moral·ly —ADVERB
| | SYNONYMS: | moral, ethical, virtuous, righteous 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, Inaugural address January 20, 1977.) 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).
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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