Moral

7 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Moral \Mor"al\, a. [F., fr. It. moralis, fr. mos, moris, manner,
     custom, habit, way of life, conduct.]
     1. Relating to duty or obligation; pertaining to those
        intentions and actions of which right and wrong, virtue
        and vice, are predicated, or to the rules by which such
        intentions and actions ought to be directed; relating to


        the practice, manners, or conduct of men as social beings
        in relation to each other, as respects right and wrong, so
        far as they are properly subject to rules.
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              Keep at the least within the compass of moral
              actions, which have in them vice or virtue.
                                                    --Hooker.
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              Mankind is broken loose from moral bands. --Dryden.
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              She had wandered without rule or guidance in a moral
              wilderness.                           --Hawthorne.
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     2. Conformed to accepted rules of right; acting in conformity
        with such rules; virtuous; just; as, a moral man. Used
        sometimes in distinction from religious; as, a moral
        rather than a religious life.
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              The wiser and more moral part of mankind. --Sir M.
                                                    Hale.
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     3. Capable of right and wrong action or of being governed by
        a sense of right; subject to the law of duty.
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              A moral agent is a being capable of those actions
              that have a moral quality, and which can properly be
              denominated good or evil in a moral sense. --J.
                                                    Edwards.
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     4. Acting upon or through one's moral nature or sense of
        right, or suited to act in such a manner; as, a moral
        arguments; moral considerations. Sometimes opposed to
        {material} and {physical}; as, moral pressure or support.
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     5. Supported by reason or probability; practically
        sufficient; -- opposed to {legal} or {demonstrable}; as, a
        moral evidence; a moral certainty.
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     6. Serving to teach or convey a moral; as, a moral lesson;
        moral tales.
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     {Moral agent}, a being who is capable of acting with
        reference to right and wrong.
  
     {Moral certainty}, a very high degree or probability,
        although not demonstrable as a certainty; a probability of
        so high a degree that it can be confidently acted upon in
        the affairs of life; as, there is a moral certainty of his
        guilt.
  
     {Moral insanity}, insanity, so called, of the moral system;
        badness alleged to be irresponsible.
  
     {Moral philosophy}, the science of duty; the science which
        treats of the nature and condition of man as a moral
        being, of the duties which result from his moral
        relations, and the reasons on which they are founded.
  
     {Moral play}, an allegorical play; a morality. [Obs.]
  
     {Moral sense}, the power of moral judgment and feeling; the
        capacity to perceive what is right or wrong in moral
        conduct, and to approve or disapprove, independently of
        education or the knowledge of any positive rule or law.
  
     {Moral theology}, theology applied to morals; practical
        theology; casuistry.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Moral \Mor"al\, n.
     1. The doctrine or practice of the duties of life; manner of
        living as regards right and wrong; conduct; behavior; --
        usually in the plural.
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              Corrupt in their morals as vice could make them.
                                                    --South.
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     2. The inner meaning or significance of a fable, a narrative,
        an occurrence, an experience, etc.; the practical lesson
        which anything is designed or fitted to teach; the
        doctrine meant to be inculcated by a fiction; a maxim.
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              Thus may we gather honey from the weed,
              And make a moral of the devil himself. --Shak.
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              To point a moral, or adorn a tale.    --Johnson.
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              We protest against the principle that the world of
              pure comedy is one into which no moral enters.
                                                    --Macaulay.
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     3. A morality play. See {Morality}, 5.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Moral \Mor"al\, v. i.
     To moralize. [Obs.] --Shak.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  moral
       adj 1: relating to principles of right and wrong; i.e. to morals or
              ethics; "moral philosophy"
       2: concerned with principles of right and wrong or conforming
          to standards of behavior and character based on those
          principles; "moral sense"; "a moral scrutiny"; "a moral
          lesson"; "a moral quandary"; "moral convictions"; "a moral
          life" [ant: {immoral}, {amoral}]
       3: adhering to ethical and moral principles; "it seems ethical
          and right"; "followed the only honorable course of
          action"; "had the moral courage to stand alone" [syn: {ethical},
           {honorable}, {honourable}]
       4: arising from the sense of right and wrong; "a moral
          obligation"
       5: psychological rather than physical or tangible in effect; "a
          moral victory"; "moral support"
       6: based on strong likelihood or firm conviction rather than
          actual evidence; "a moral certainty" [syn: {moral(a)}]
       n : the significance of a story or event; "the moral of the
           story is to love thy neighbor" [syn: {lesson}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  216 Moby Thesaurus words for "moral":
     Christian, adage, admonishment, admonition, alarm, ana, analects,
     angelic, aphorism, apophthegm, apothegm, assignment, axiological,
     axiom, behavior, belief, blameless, brocard, byword, canon,
     catchword, caution, caveat, chalk talk, chaste, clean, code,
     collected sayings, commandment, conduct, conscientious, convention,
     creditable, current saying, customs, decent, deferential,
     deterrent example, dictate, dictum, discourse, disquisition,
     distich, duteous, dutiful, epigram, erect, estimable, ethical,
     ethics, ethological, example, exercise, exposition, expression,
     fair, final notice, final warning, form, formula,
     full of integrity, general principle, gnome, godly, golden rule,
     golden saying, good, guideline, guiding principle, habits,
     harangue, high-minded, high-principled, highly respectable, hint,
     homework, homily, honest, honorable, ideals, immaculate,
     imperative, incorruptible, instruction, integrity, inviolate,
     irreproachable, just, law, law-abiding, law-loving, law-revering,
     lecture, lecture-demonstration, lesson, manly, maxim, message,
     mitzvah, modest, monition, moral lesson, moralistic, morality,
     moralization, moralizing, morals, mores, mot, motto, noble, norm,
     notice, notification, obedient, object lesson, observant, oracle,
     ordinance, phrase, pithy saying, point, practices, preachment,
     preachy, precept, prescript, principium, principle, principled,
     principles, probity, proper, proverb, proverbial saying, proverbs,
     pure, recital, recitation, rectitude, regulation, reputable,
     respectable, respectful, right, right-minded, righteous, rubric,
     rule, saintlike, saintly, saw, saying, scruples, scrupulous,
     sentence, sententious expression, seraphic, sermon, sermonizing,
     set task, settled principle, skull session, slogan, sloka,
     spotless, stainless, standard, standards, sterling, stock saying,
     straight, sutra, talk, task, teaching, teachy, tenet, text, threat,
     tip-off, true-dealing, true-devoted, true-disposing, true-souled,
     true-spirited, truehearted, truism, ultimatum, unblemished,
     uncorrupt, uncorrupted, undefiled, unimpeachable, unspotted,
     unstained, unsullied, untarnished, upright, uprighteous,
     upstanding, verbum sapienti, verse, virtuous, warning,
     warning piece, wisdom, wisdom literature, wise saying, witticism,
     word, words of wisdom, working principle, working rule, worthy,
     yeomanly
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  MORAL
       
          Mentioned in "An Overview of Ada", J.G.P. Barnes, Soft Prac &
          Exp 10:851-887 (1980).
       
       

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  MORAL, adj.  Conforming to a local and mutable standard of right. 
  Having the quality of general expediency.
  
          It is sayd there be a raunge of mountaynes in the Easte, on
  one syde of the which certayn conducts are immorall, yet on the other
  syde they are holden in good esteeme; wherebye the mountayneer is much
  conveenyenced, for it is given to him to goe downe eyther way and act
  as it shall suite his moode, withouten offence.
                                                   _Gooke's Meditations_