ethical
Americanadjective
-
pertaining to or dealing with morals or the principles of morality; pertaining to right and wrong in conduct.
-
being in accordance with the rules or standards for right conduct or practice, especially the standards of a profession.
It was not considered ethical for physicians to advertise.
- Antonyms:
- immoral
-
(of drugs) sold only upon medical prescription.
adjective
-
in accordance with principles of conduct that are considered correct, esp those of a given profession or group
-
of or relating to ethics
-
(of a medicinal agent) available legally only with a doctor's prescription or consent
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ethical
Explanation
For someone who is honest and follows good moral standards, use the adjective ethical. An ethical teacher will grade your papers honestly — even if she catches you sticking your tongue out at her. Ethical comes from the Greek ethos "moral character" and describes a person or behavior as right in the moral sense - truthful, fair, and honest. Sometimes the word is used for people who follow the moral standards of their profession. An ethical lawyer or doctor does not try to take advantage of the client or patient's unfortunate situation. If something has happened and you are not sure what the right thing to do is, you are having an ethical dilemma.
Vocabulary lists containing ethical
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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Achievement First 7th Grade IA 1 Words
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Excerpts from "To Kill a Mockingbird"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The legal parsing of what technically violates a rule is not the same as the ethical question of what a Cabinet secretary should be doing with his time and public platform.
From Salon • May 18, 2026
Some proponents of fusion wave away any ethical worry tied to the NRC’s rulemaking.
From MarketWatch • May 18, 2026
And another one is something Judge Lasnik can’t talk about, even, under the current ethical rules, because it’s a pending case.
From Slate • May 12, 2026
"Militaries adopt AI to speed up processes such as target identification. But delegating life-and-death decisions to machines poses profound ethical and human rights risks," said Patrick Wilcken of Amnesty International.
From BBC • May 6, 2026
The question of whether they ought to rescue Edward Ashton from certain death in a broken balloon might have posed an ethical dilemma, had there been any chance of saving him.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
