ethical

Syllables: eth·ic·al/ˈɛθɪkəl/

ethical adjective: of or relating to the study of ethics.

Adjective

ethical (comparative more ethical, superlative most ethical)

(not comparable) Of or relating to the study of ethics.
- The philosopher Kant is particularly known for his ethical writings.
(not comparable) Of or relating to the accepted principles of right and wrong, especially those of some organization or profession.
- All employees must familiarize themselves with our ethical guidelines.
- An angry dispute between an animal welfare charity and its former employee will be the first case in Britain to decide whether ethical veganism is a “philosophical belief” that should be afforded the same protections as religion.2018 December 3, Tara John, “Veganism could get the same legal protections as religion”, in CNN
(comparable) Morally approvable; good.
- We are trying to decide what the most ethical course of action would be.
(not comparable) Only dispensed on the prescription of a physician.
- In most jurisdictions, morphine is classified as an ethical drug.

Noun

ethical (plural ethicals)

An ethical drug, one only dispensed on the prescription of a physician.

ethical meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

ethical in Hindi

of or relating to the study of ethics: नैतिक naitik
of or relating to the accepted principles of right and wrong, especially those of some organization or profession: शोभनीय śobhnīya
morally approvable, when referring to an action that affects others; good: नैतिक naitik

ethical in Tamil

நன்னடத்தை நெறி, அறநெறி

ethical in Urdu

of or relating to the study of ethics: اَخْلاقی axlāqī

ethical in Bengali

of or relating to the study of ethics: নৈতিক nōitik

More languagesFewer languages

ethical in Malayalam: നീതിശാസ്ത്രപരമായ, ധർമ്മം പാലിക്കുന്ന, സാന്മാർഗികമായ
ethical in Kannada: ನೈತಿಕ, ನೀತಿ ವಿಷಯದ, ನೀತಿಗೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದ, ಒಳ್ತನದ
ethical in Pashto: اخلاقي axlāqi
ethical in Arabic: أَخْلَاقِيّ ʔaḵlāqiyy
ethical in Persian: اخلاقی axlâqi

Examples of ethical in a sentence

Although there are two sides to every story, the fallacy that they are inevitably equally ethical is called bothsidesism.
We were beginning to suspect that her ethical qualms were sometimes performative, as the urgent need for fairness and justice seemed to apply to some people but not to others.
I've long maintained that scambaiting is one of the few sources of ethical "content" out there.

All 40 example sentences with ethical

Forms of ethical

Adjective
comparative	more ethical
superlative	most ethical
Noun
plural	ethicals

Origin of ethical

From ethic + -al, from Late Latin ethicus (“moral, ethical”), from Ancient Greek ἠθικός (ēthikós, “of or for morals, moral, expressing character”), from ἦθος (êthos, “character, moral nature”).

Words formed from ethical

Phrases with ethical

Words that rhyme with ethical

7 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about ethical

What does ethical mean?: Ethical means of or relating to the study of ethics.
What is ethical in Hindi?: Ethical in Hindi is नैतिक (naitik), शोभनीय (śobhnīya). See Ethical meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is ethical?: Ethical can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce ethical?: Ethical is pronounced /ˈɛθɪkəl/.

Words near ethical in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: ethical (page history and authors); ethical (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ethical (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ethical (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ethical.ogg.

Cite this entry: “ethical.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ethical. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.