moral
adjective · noun · verb
Simple meaning
Conforming to a standard of right behaviour.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mawruhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmɔɹəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Conforming to a standard of right behaviour; sanctioned by or operative on one's conscience or ethical judgment.
Of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behaviour, especially for teaching right behaviour.
Concerned with principles of right and wrong or conforming to standards of behavior and character based on those principles
Capable of right and wrong action.
Positively affecting the mind, confidence, or will.
Probable but not proved.
noun
of a narrative
The ethical significance or practical lesson.
of a media
A depiction of good or heroic actions.
chiefly in the plural
Moral practices or teachings: modes of conduct.
verb
intransitive
To moralize.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Conforming to a standard of right behaviour; sanctioned by or operative on one's conscience or ethical judgment.
Used this way, moral is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in ethics or values contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Ethics/values
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use moral
- “The moral of the story is to love thy neighbor.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Motivation based on ideas of right and wrong.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Concern with the distinction between good and evil or right and wrong.
With respect to moral principles.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The lack of any incentive to guard against a risk when you are protected against it (as by insurance).
An efficient incentive.
The quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong.
An obligation arising out of considerations of right and wrong.
Certainty based on an inner conviction.
The philosophical study of moral values and rules.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: conforming to a standard of right behaviour
Antonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.