amoral

[ey-mawr-uhl, a-mawr-, ey-mor-, a-mor-]

adjective

1. not involving questions of right or wrong; without moral quality; neither moral nor immoral.

2. having no moral standards, restraints, or principles; unaware of or indifferent to questions of right or wrong.

   a completely amoral person.

amoral

/ eɪˈmɒrəl, ˌeɪmɒˈrælɪtɪ /

adjective

1. having no moral quality; nonmoral

2. without moral standards or principles

Usage

Amoral is often wrongly used where immoral is meant. Immoral is properly used to talk about the breaking of moral rules, amoral about people who have no moral code or about places or situations where moral considerations do not apply

Other Word Forms

• amoralism noun
• amorality noun
• amorally adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of amoral¹

First recorded in 1880–85; a- ⁶ + moral

Synonym Study

See immoral.

Example Sentences

If Pericles’ funeral oration is a landmark of democratic virtue, the amoral facts of pure force become explicit in the “Melian dialogue” following the Athenian conquest of the neutral island of Melos in 415 B.C.:

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In what Mr. Hoyos calls “an amoral act of public policy,” Scipio massacred the townspeople of Ilugo for killing survivors of his father’s and uncle’s defeats who had sought refuge there five years earlier.

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Today, a handful of amoral conglomerates control our information and media system.

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It’s not easy dealing with someone as spiteful and amoral as the nation’s ax-grinder-in-chief.

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I think because AI is built by some pretty amoral/awful people, we assume it must inevitably be amoral/awful.

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Related Words

• barbarous 
• excessive 
• outrageous 
• preposterous 
• uncivilized 
• unethical 
• unfair 
• unjust 
• unreasonable 
• wanton