Morality

/məˈɹælɪti/ · noun

Meaning

(uncountable) Recognition of the distinction between good and evil or between right and wrong; respect for and obedience to the rules of right conduct; the mental disposition or characteristic of behaving in a manner intended to produce morally good results..

Definitions by Sense

1. (uncountable) Recognition of the distinction between good and evil or between right and wrong; respect for and obedience to the rules of right conduct; the mental disposition or characteristic of behaving in a manner intended to produce morally good results.
2. (countable) A set of social rules, customs, traditions, beliefs, or practices which specify proper, acceptable forms of conduct.
3. (countable) A set of personal guiding principles for conduct or a general notion of how to behave, whether respectable or not.
4. (countable, archaic) A lesson or pronouncement which contains advice about proper behavior.
5. (countable) A morality play.
6. (uncountable, rare) Moral philosophy, the branch of philosophy which studies the grounds and nature of rightness, wrongness, good, and evil.
7. (countable, rare) A particular theory concerning the grounds and nature of rightness, wrongness, good, and evil.

Example Sentences

Without morality, intellect were impossible for him; a thoroughly immoral man could not know anything at all! To know a thing, what we can call knowing, a man must first love the thing, sympathize with it: that is, be virtuously related to it.

Ellery Jackson-Hubbard. […] A man radiating prosperity, optimism and selfishness. Has no morality whatever. Is a conscious individualist, cold-blooded, pitiless, working only for himself, and believing in nothing but himself.

Science and art without morality are not dangerous in the sense commonly supposed. They are not dangerous like a fire, but dangerous like a fog.

It may be true that you cannot legislate morality, but behavior can be regulated.

Masters and Johnson wanted their work to be taken seriously, and wanted to stay a step ahead of the morality police, so they tended to write in almost comically dense medicalese.

I have to live for others and not for myself: thats middle class morality.

He smiled a little. "Morality is the average conduct of the average man at a given time and place. It is based on custom and expediency."

His morality was such as naturally proceeds from loose opinions.

Synonyms for morality

Antonyms for morality

Related Words

Word Forms

• moralities

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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