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
- ethicality noun
- ethically adverb
- ethicalness noun
- hyperethical adjective
- nonethical adjective
- pseudoethical adjective
- superethical adjective
- unethical adjective
Etymology
Origin of ethical
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.
“If you don’t have some ethical and moral framework — it doesn’t have to be from a religion — you will be lost and swept away by this. People need some type of grounding.”
From Salon • Apr. 6, 2026
The ethical question was a factor in Maven's early years, when Google was the program's original AI contractor.
From Barron's • Apr. 5, 2026
Cordes noted that credentialed tax professionals — including enrolled agents and CPAs — have due-diligence and ethical obligations.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 1, 2026
The court wrote that it’s an ethical problem when the “prolonged access” at J&J was “followed by collaborative efforts with its most prominent adversary.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026
Ritual and ethical absention and the use of contraceptive drugs seem to have played the major part in maintaining this stability.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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.
