Word.ws English Dictionary

moral imperative

moral imperative noun: a practice, policy, or state of affairs which is required and justified by the fact that it is morally right.

Noun

moral imperative (plural moral imperatives)

  1. A practice, policy, or state of affairs which is required and justified by the fact that it is morally right.
    • This 60-second commercial, titled The Deficit Trials: 2017 A.D., . . . "expresses a view that budget cuts are a moral imperative."2001 June 24, “American Notes: Advertising”, in Time, retrieved 07 Jan 2016
    • To research a possible link between US bombardment and rates of birth defects and pediatric cancer in Iraq is a moral imperative.2012 October 25, Ross Caputi, “The victims of Fallujah's health crisis are stifled by western silence”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 07 Jan 2016
  2. An ethical principle or rule which requires and justifies a practice, policy, or state of affairs.
    • . . . the Confucian custom of filial piety. This moral imperative requires sons to obey their parents and take care of them during old age.1996, Robert Strom et al., "Intergenerational Relationships in Taiwanese Families" in Changing Family Roles and Feminism, Man Singh Das (ed.), p. 48 (Google preview)
    • There are no laws about queueing, but there is a powerful moral imperative not to cheat.2004 September 18, Adam Nicolson, “Not even the full force of the law is enough to make something legitimate”, in Telegraph, UK, retrieved 07 Jan 2016

Examples of moral imperative in a sentence

  • Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist, wrote on Twitter about the accident, with his usual bravado, “Self-driving cars and trucks are a moral imperative.”2014 June 10, Claire Cain Miller, “If Robots Drove, How Much Safer Would Roads Be?”, in New York Times, retrieved 07 Jan 2016:
  • It is not murderous venom that courses in black veins but loving tolerance for the stranger, which is the central moral imperative of the Gospel.2015 June 20, Michael Eric Dyson, “Love and Terror in the Black Church”, in New York Times, retrieved 07 Jan 2016:

Forms of moral imperative

pluralmoral imperatives

Questions about moral imperative

What does moral imperative mean?
Moral imperative means a practice, policy, or state of affairs which is required and justified by the fact that it is morally right.
How do you use moral imperative in a sentence?
Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist, wrote on Twitter about the accident, with his usual bravado, “Self-driving cars and trucks are a moral imperative.”
What part of speech is moral imperative?
Moral imperative is a noun.
What is the plural of moral imperative?
The plural of moral imperative is moral imperatives.

Words near moral imperative in the dictionary

  1. moral futurism
  2. moral hazard
  3. moral hazards
  4. moral high ground
  5. moral high grounds
  6. moral imperative
  7. moral imperatives
  8. moral injuries
  9. moral injury
  10. moral low ground
  11. moral low grounds

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: moral imperative (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.

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