Dictionary › M › moral
moral
2 syllablesYour browser doesn’t have built-in voices. Try Chrome, Edge or Safari.
As an adjective, moral means of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behaviour, especially for teaching right behaviour. As a noun, it means the ethical significance or practical lesson.
Meanings of moral
14 meaningsadjective
Of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behaviour, especially for teaching right behaviour.
“moral judgments; a moral poem”
“a moral obligation”
Conforming to a standard of right behaviour; sanctioned by or operative on one's conscience or ethical judgment.
“a moral action”
Capable of right and wrong action.
“a moral agent”
Probable but not proved.
“a moral certainty”
Positively affecting the mind, confidence, or will.
“a moral victory; moral support”
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”
Psychological rather than physical or tangible in effect
“a moral victory”
“moral support”
noun
of a narrativeThe ethical significance or practical lesson.
“The moral of The Boy Who Cried Wolf is that if you repeatedly lie, people won't believe you when you tell the truth.”
chiefly in the pluralMoral practices or teachings: modes of conduct.
“a candidate with strong morals”
Older and rare meanings (3)
obsoleteA morality play.
slangdatedA moral certainty.
slangdatedAn exact counterpart.
verb
To moralize.
Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).