moral

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”).

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

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  • (East Coast) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑɹəl/
• Rhymes: -ɒɹəl, -ɔːɹəl
• (without the horse–hoarse merger, US, Scotland) /ˈmɔrəl/ ((Early Modern English) /ˈmɒɹ-/)

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

• (conforming to a standard of right behaviour): incorruptible, noble, righteous, virtuous
• (probable but not proved): virtual

• immoral, unethical, corrupt, unscrupulous, amoral, non-moral, pseudomoral, unmoral

• ethical

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. (obsolete) A morality play.
4. (slang, dated) A moral certainty.
5. (slang, dated) An exact counterpart.

• (moral practices or teachings): ethics, mores

• golden rule

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

1. (intransitive) To moralize.

• “moral”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “moral”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “moral”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• Marlo, molar, romal

Borrowed from Latin mōrālis.

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

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

• amoral
• immoral
• moralisme
• moralment

• moralitat

moral f (plural morals)

1. morals
2. morale

• “moral” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “moral”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “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.

Loan from French morale via German Moral

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

• moralisere
• moralsk
• moralisme
• moralist
• umoral
• seksualmoral

• etik
• karakter
• sæd
• sædelighed
• opførsel

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

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.ʁal/

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moral m (plural moraux)

1. morale, optimism

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

1. moral

• amoral
• avoir le moral en berne
• avoir le moral à zéro
• avoir le moral dans les chaussettes
• conte moral
• immoral
• morale
• moralisme
• moraliste
• moralité
• personne morale
• remonter le moral

• mœurs

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

From Latin mōrālis.

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

• moralmente

• moralidade

moral f (plural morais)

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

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

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈmo.ral/
• Rhymes: -ral
• Hyphenation: mo‧ral

moral (first-person possessive moralku, second-person possessive moralmu, third-person possessive moralnya)

1. moral:
   1. (literature) the ethical significance or practical lesson.

      Synonym: pengajaran (Standard Malay)

   2. moral practices or teachings: modes of conduct.
   3. moral certainty.
2. morale: the capacity of people to maintain belief in an institution or a goal, or even in oneself and others.

   Synonyms: daya juang, korsa, moral

• “moral” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

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

1. moral

Learned borrowing from Latin mōrālis.

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

moral m or f (plural morais)

1. moral

• moralmente

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;

• moralidade

moral m (plural morais)

1. morale

• “moral” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Borrowed from Latin moralis or French moral.

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

1. moral

moral n (plural morale)

1. morale, optimism

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

mòrāl m (Cyrillic spelling мо̀ра̄л)

1. (uncountable) moral

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

From Latin mōrālis.

moral m or f (masculine and feminine plural morales)

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

   Antonyms: inmoral, amoral

moral f (plural morales)

1. morals, standard (modes of conduct)
2. morale (the capacity of people to maintain belief in an institution or a goal)

• doble moral

• tener más moral que el Alcoyano (Spain, informal)

From mora +‎ -al.

moral m (plural morales)

1. mulberry tree

• “moral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

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

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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

• moralisera
• moralisk
• moralism
• moralist
• moralpanik
• moraltant
• omoral

• etik
• karaktär
• sed
• sedelärande
• sedlighet
• uppförande

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

• lamor

Borrowed from Spanish moral.

• IPA^(key): /moˈɾal/, [moˈɾal]
• Hyphenation: mo‧ral

morál (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜓᜇᜎ᜔)

1. moral

morál (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜓᜇᜎ᜔)

1. morals

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

Borrowed from French morale.

• IPA^(key): /mo.ɾal/

moral (definite accusative morali, plural moraller)

1. morale, good spirits

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