moral
UK/ˈmɒɹəl/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈmɔɹəl/
moral adjective: of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behaviour, especially conforming to principles of rectitude.
Adjective
moral (comparative more moral, superlative most moral)
- Of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behaviour, especially conforming to principles of rectitude.
- moral judgments; a moral poem
- a moral obligation
- Conforming to a given standard of right behaviour.
- a moral action
- Synonyms:
- acceptable, appropriate, courteous, decent, decorous, mannerly, proper, incorruptible, noble, righteous
- Being sanctioned by or operative on one's conscience or ethical judgment.
- 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...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., →OCLC
- Capable of right and wrong action.
- a moral agent
- Probable but not proved.
- a moral certainty
- Synonyms:
- virtual
- Positively affecting the mind, confidence, or will.
- a moral victory; moral support
Noun
moral (plural morals)
- The 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.
- 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)
- Moral practices or teachings: modes of conduct.
- a candidate with strong morals
- A depiction of good or heroic actions.
- Synonyms:
- message
- A morality play.
- A moral certainty.
- "You'd better not collar anything now, because it's a moral that old Antonio would nip out behind one of those cases."1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 22
- "One thing," added George, after the peculiarities of the situation had been sufficiently admitted, "it's going to be the last time I'm mixed up in what isn't strictly on the level. If we get clear this once with anything like tidy, old girl, it'll be that little cottage with the pigs and poultry...1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
- An exact counterpart.
Verb
moral (third-person singular simple present morals, present participle (US) moraling or (UK) moralling, simple past and past participle (US) moraled or (UK) moralled)
- To moralize.
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Moral
Moral (plural Morals)
- A surname from Spanish.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Moral
Moral
- A township in Shelby County, Indiana, United States.
moral meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
moral in Hindi
- relating to principles of right and wrong
- नैतिक naitik
- conforming to a standard of right behavior
- नैतिक naitik
- the moral significance or practical lesson
- नैतिक naitik
- moral practices or teachings
- नैतिक naitik
moral in Tamil
- அறமுறையான, ஒழுகலாறு, ஒழுக்க நடவடிக்கை, நடைமுறை, ஒழுக்கம், ஒழுக்கம் சார்ந்த
moral in Marathi
- नैतिक
moral in Urdu
- relating to principles of right and wrong
- اَخْلاقی axlāqī
More languagesFewer languages
- moral in Bengali
- নৈতিক nōitik
- moral in Telugu
- నీతి nīti
- moral in Malayalam
- ആചാരമുറകൾ, കഥയുടെ ആന്തരാർത്ഥം, ധാർമ്മികമായ, സദാചാരമായ
- moral in Kannada
- ಸರಿನಡತೆ, ಚೆನ್ನಡತೆ, ನಲ್ನಡತೆ, ನೈತಿಕತೆ
- moral in Punjabi
- ਨੈਤਿਕ
- moral in Gujarati
- નૈતિક
- moral in Odia
- ନୈତିକ
- moral in Nepali
- नैतिक
- moral in Pashto
- اخلاقي axlāqi
- moral in Arabic
- أَخْلَاقِيّ ʔaḵlāqiyy, عِظَة ʕiẓa
- moral in Persian
- اخلاقی axlâqi
- moral in Vietnamese
- đạo đức
Examples of moral in a sentence
- 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, →OCLC:
- They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company...
- If we get clear this once with anything like tidy, old girl, it'll be that little cottage with the pigs and poultry for a moral."1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:
Synonyms of moral
Antonyms
Forms of moral
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more moral |
| superlative | most moral |
| Noun | |
| plural | morals |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | morals |
| present participle US | moraling |
| present participle UK | moralling |
| past participle US | moraled |
| past US | moraled |
| past participle UK | moralled |
| past UK | moralled |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Morals |
Origin of moral
From Middle English moral, from Old French moral, from Latin mōrālis (“relating to manners or morals”) (first used by Cicero, to translate Ancient Greek ἠθικός (ēthikós, “moral”)), from mos (“manner, custom”).
Borrowed from Spanish Moral.
Unknown
Words formed from moral
- double moral
- ethicomoral
- extramoral
- hypermoral
- juridico-moral
- medicomoral
- moral agency
- moral agent
- moral arithmetic
- moral authority
- moral bankruptcy
- moral circle
- moral code
- moral compass
- moral dilemma
- moral distress
- moral diversity
- moral duty
- moral event horizon
- moralfag
- moral fiber
- moral fibre
- moral futurism
- moral hazard
- moral high ground
- moral imperative
- moral injury
- moralistic
- moralization
- moral leper
- moralless
- moral low ground
- morally
- Moral Majority
- moral minimum
- moralness
- moral nihilism
- moral objectivism
- moral obligation
- moral of the story
- moral order
- moral panic
- moral philosophy
- moralphobia
- moral police
- moral policing
- moral realism
- moral relativism
- moral science
- moral sense
- moral suasion
- moral support
- moral system
- moral turpitude
- moral universe
- moral victory
- nonmoral
- postmoral
- premoral
- psychomoral
Phrases with moral
- moral codes
- moral duties
- moral fibers
- moral fibres
- moral minima
- moral orders
- moral panics
- moral senses
- moral circles
- moral hazards
- moral policed
- moral polices
23 more phrasesFewer phrases
- moral systems
- moral injuries
- moral minimums
- moral sciences
- moral suasions
- moral certainty
- moral compasses
- moral policings
- moral universes
- moral victories
- moral outbidding
- moral certainties
- moral diversities
- moral imperatives
- moral low grounds
- moral obligations
- moral relativisms
- moral bankruptcies
- moral high grounds
- Moral Majoritarian
- moral philosophies
- Moral Majoritarians
- moral event horizons
Words that rhyme with moral
Questions about moral
- What does moral mean?
- Moral means of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behaviour, especially conforming to principles of rectitude.
- What is moral in Hindi?
- Moral in Hindi is नैतिक (naitik). See Moral meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use moral in a sentence?
- She had wandered without rule or guidance in a moral wilderness.
- What part of speech is moral?
- Moral can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce moral?
- Moral is pronounced /ˈmɒɹəl/ (UK).
Words near moral in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: moral (page history and authors); Moral (page history and authors); moral (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); moral (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); నీతి (Telugu) (page history and authors); moral (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); moral (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); moral (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); moral (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); moral (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); moral (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
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Cite this entry: “moral.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/moral. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.