moral

Etymology

From Middle English moral, from Old French moral, from Latin mōrālis (“relating to manners or morals”) (first used by Cicero, to translate Ancient Greek ἠθικός (ēthikós, “moral”)), from mos (“manner, custom”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒɹəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmoɹəl/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • (East Coast) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑɹəl/
• Rhymes: -ɒɹəl

Adjective

moral (comparative more moral, superlative most moral)

1. Of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behaviour, especially for teaching right behaviour.

   moral judgments;  a moral poem

   a moral obligation

   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:

     She had wandered without rule or guidance in a moral wilderness.

2. Conforming to a standard of right behaviour; sanctioned by or operative on one's conscience or ethical judgment.

   a moral action

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.

3. Capable of right and wrong action.

   a moral agent

4. Probable but not proved.

   a moral certainty

5. Positively affecting the mind, confidence, or will.

   a moral victory;  moral support

Noun

moral (plural morals)

1. (of a narrative) The ethical significance or practical lesson.

   The moral of The Boy Who Cried Wolf is that if you repeatedly lie, people won't believe you when you tell the truth.

   • 1841, Thomas Macaulay, Comic Dramatists of the Restoration (printed in Edinburgh Review, January 1841)

     We protest against the principle that the world of pure comedy is one into which no moral enters.

2. (chiefly in the plural) Moral practices or teachings: modes of conduct.

   a candidate with strong morals

3. (of a media) A depiction of good or heroic actions.
4. (obsolete) A morality play.
5. (slang, dated) A moral certainty.
6. (slang, dated) An exact counterpart.

Verb

moral (third-person singular simple present morals, present participle moraling or moralling, simple past and past participle moraled or moralled)

1. (intransitive) To moralize.

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

• “moral”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “moral”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “moral”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Marlo, molar, romal

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mōrālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [muˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [moˈɾal]

Adjective

moral m or f (masculine and feminine plural morals)

1. moral (relating to right and wrong)
2. moral (conforming to a standard of right behaviour)

   Antonyms: immoral, amoral

Noun

moral f (plural morals)

1. morals
2. morale

Further reading

• “moral” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “moral”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “moral” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “moral” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Etymology

Loan from French morale via German Moral

Noun

moral c

1. morale, motivation (capacity to maintain belief in an institution or a goal)
2. moral, moral practices, conduct

   streng, victoriansk moral

   strict, Victorian moral

3. a moral, a lesson (of a narrative)

   Synonym: morale

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French moral, from Old French moral, borrowed from Latin morālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.ʁal/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

moral m (plural moraux)

1. morale, optimism

Adjective

moral (feminine morale, masculine plural moraux, feminine plural morales)

1. moral
2. legal
3. incorporeal (↔ physique)

Further reading

• “moral”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Etymology

From Latin mōrālis.

Adjective

moral m or f (plural morais)

1. moral (relating to right and wrong)
2. moral (conforming to a standard of right behaviour)

   Antonyms: inmoral, amoral

Noun

moral f (plural morais)

1. moral (moral practices or teachings)
2. morale

Further reading

• “moral”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

Etymology

Internationalism, borrowed from Dutch moraal (“moral”), from Middle French moral, from Latin mōrālis (“relating to manners or morals”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoral/
• Rhymes: -oral
• Hyphenation: mo‧ral

Noun

moral

1. moral:
   1. (of a narrative) the ethical significance or practical lesson
   2. moral practices or teachings: modes of conduct
   3. a conviction so justifiable that one is morally entitled to act on it: moral certainty
2. morale (the capacity of people to maintain belief in an institution or a goal, or even in oneself and others)

Further reading

• moral on the Indonesian Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^id

Adjective

moral m (feminine singular morala, masculine plural morai, feminine plural morales)

1. moral

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin mōrālis.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Homophone: mural (Portugal)
• Hyphenation: mo‧ral

Adjective

moral m or f (plural morais)

1. moral

Noun

moral f (plural morais)

1. a set of moral values, (collectively) principles, morality;
2. moral philosophy;
3. (informal) authority, capacity or right to impose on or influence another;
   1. balls (boldness), attitude of authority;
   2. right to have a say on a matter, to judge someone etc., moral high ground;

Noun

moral m (plural morais)

1. morale

Further reading

• “moral”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin moralis or French moral.

Adjective

moral m or n (feminine singular morală, masculine plural morali, feminine and neuter plural morale)

1. moral

Noun

moral n (plural morale)

1. morale, optimism

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mǒraːl/
• Hyphenation: mo‧ral

Noun

mòrāl m (Cyrillic spelling мо̀ра̄л)

1. (uncountable) moral

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /moˈɾal/ [moˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: mo‧ral

Etymology 1

From Latin mōrālis.

Etymology 2

From mora +‎ -al.

Further reading

• “moral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Etymology

Loan from French morale via German Moral, used in Swedish in Then Swänska Argus (1730s).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

moral c

1. morality

   Antonym: omoral (“immorality”)

   etik och moral

   ethics and morality

2. morals

   De saknar helt moral

   They completely lack morals

3. morale

   truppernas låga moral

   the low morale of the troops

4. a moral, a lesson (of a narrative)

   Synonym: (more idiomatic) sensmoral

References

• moral in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)
• moral in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Anagrams

• lamor

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish moral.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /moˈɾal/ [moˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: mo‧ral

Adjective

morál (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜓᜇᜎ᜔)

1. moral

Noun

morál (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜓᜇᜎ᜔)

1. morals

References

• “moral”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

Etymology

Borrowed from French morale.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo.ɾal/

Noun

moral (definite accusative morali, plural moraller)

1. morale, good spirits

   Bu başarı morallerini yükseltti. ― This success boosted their morale.