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View synonyms for moralistic

moralistic

[ mawr-uh-lis-tik, mor- ]

adjective

  1. explaining or interpreting something in terms of right and wrong, especially in a self-righteous or tiresome way:

    They reject both the moralistic view of addiction as willful evil and the medical model of addiction as a disease.

  2. emphasizing morality, especially unduly; moralizing:

    She frowns on moralistic preaching that focuses on ethical duty divorced from the gospel of grace and gratitude.

  3. concerned with regulating the morals of others, as by imposing censorship or other restrictions:

    By trying to protect people from their own mistakes, moralistic laws prevent them from learning responsibility.

  4. relating to or being a philosopher or philosophy chiefly concerned with principles of morality:

    During this period of antiquity, a number of moralistic philosophies emerged at the same time in different parts of the world.



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Other Words From

  • mor·al·is·ti·cal·ly adverb
  • an·ti·mor·al·is·tic adjective
  • o·ver·mor·al·is·tic adjective
  • pseu·do·mor·al·is·tic adjective
  • qua·si-mor·al·is·tic adjective
  • qua·si-mor·al·is·ti·cal·ly adverb
  • sem·i·mor·al·is·tic adjective
  • un·mor·al·is·tic adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of moralistic1

First recorded in 1840–45; moralist ( def ) + -ic ( def )

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Example Sentences

This moralistic regime demonized gays while it hid true monsters.

Much of the series was turned over to moralistic preaching about the evils of premarital sex.

What Webb offers is a sobering, moralistic way of looking at the world.

This anti-moralistic political drama is a morality play on the value of political thought, and the importance of doing it well.

So, why is it, then that are there so few movies lately that are not jaded, tawdry, humorlessly moralistic, or amorally violent?

Carlyle remained a Puritan, without any dogmatic beliefs except a kind of moralistic pantheism.

It is tragic that some would-be Christians, like Mrs. Strait, become so moralistic that they condemn rather than help people.

How tight-shut, how moralistic, how overbearing these intellectuals with a mission!

The latter then loses its peculiar flavor of the didactic and pedantic; its ultra-moralistic and hortatory tone.

That is the reason why Mrs. Strait holds to the moralistic concept of the Christian life.

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moralistmorality