morality
Americannoun
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the quality of being moral
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conformity, or degree of conformity, to conventional standards of moral conduct
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a system of moral principles
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an instruction or lesson in morals
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short for morality play
Usage
What is morality? Morality is a conformity to the rules of good or virtuous conduct, as in Because he was leading a life according to morality, the knight declined the reward for rescuing the princess.Morality is also an individual person’s goodness or virtuousness, as in Batman’s morality would not allow him to kill any evildoers.Morality is also a system of rules regarding goodness or virtue, as in The Bible is the source of Christian morality.Morality is a very complex concept that refers to the written or unwritten rules that society uses to determine what good behavior is. Good here means not evil and refers to behavior that people agree is honorable, just, or virtuous.If you are concerned with morality, you want to be a good person and don’t want to commit evil acts. The rules of goodness that define morality are called morals and can come from many different sources, such as religion or cultural norms. The opposite of morality is immorality.Example: I try to live my life according to morality, so I always tell the truth.
Related Words
See goodness.
Other Word Forms
- antimorality adjective
- hypermorality noun
- premorality noun
Etymology
Origin of morality
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English moralite, from Late Latin mōrālitās; moral, -ity
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.
A born entertainer who had no ideology to sell or bourgeois morality to promote, he gravitated to theater as the most exhilarating form of debate.
From Los Angeles Times
“It shows a profound, practical morality that underlies her work,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times
I think if you look at sort of notions of Christian morality, it also goes to notions of sort of innocence, being afflicted by demonic forces.
From Salon
The young woman had been arrested by the morality police for allegedly violating the dress code.
From Barron's
When Sophocles’ tragedy is done right, it should resemble a mass more than a morality tale.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
