moralization

American  

[mawr-uhl-ahy-zay-shuhn] / ˌmɔr əl aɪˈzeɪ ʃən /

noun

moralizations plural

1. the act or process of moralizing.

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Explanation

When you endlessly lecture someone about what they should do to be a better, more ethical person, that's moralization. Many folk tales and fables conclude with a moral, a specific lesson to be learned, which is one kind of moralization: "Slow and steady wins the race!" If you judge other people's moral decisions, acting as if you're an expert on what's right and what's wrong, you are engaging in moralization of the most annoying kind. We can trace moralization back to the Latin root moralis, "proper behavior of a person in society."

Example Sentences

From diet and "lite" foods and drinks to expensive "superfoods," one constant across these changing trends has been the moralization of food as "good" or "bad."

From Salon • Jan. 30, 2023

The moralization bias was dialed up to 11, of course, but there was also a lack of enforcement.

From Scientific American • Dec. 19, 2017

That moralization wasn’t just around religion and health: it also incorporated our reverence for hard work.

From The Guardian • Nov. 28, 2016

Cosby failed to meet this standard, in large part because his moralization actually increased the public’s interest in the content of his deposition.

From Slate • Jul. 8, 2015

The entire revealing process can be looked upon as one long story of the moralization of the idea of God.

From Understanding the Scriptures by McConnell, Francis John