Meaning of moral In English

• 0 relating to the standards of good or bad behaviour, fairness, honesty, etc. that each person believes in, rather than to laws:

  • It's her moral obligation to tell the police what she knows.

  • It is not part of a novelist's job to make a moral judgment.

  • She was the only politician to condemn the proposed law on moral grounds (= for moral reasons).

  • The Democrats are attempting to capture the moral high ground (= are trying to appear more honest and good than the other political parties).

  • She's a very moral woman.

  • Oh, stop being so moral!

  • Is TV responsible for weakening people's moral fibre (= ability to behave well and honestly and work hard)?

• 1 standards for good or bad character and behaviour:

  • public/private morals

  • old-fashioned disapproving a person of loose morals (= whose character or sexual behaviour is considered unacceptable)

• 2 The moral of a story, event, or experience is the message that you understand from it about how you should or should not behave:

  • And the moral of the story is that honesty is always the best policy.

• 3 relating to standards of good behavior, honesty, and fair dealing, or showing high standards of this type:

  • a highly moral man

  • It’s her moral obligation to tell the police what she knows.

• 4 a message about how people should or should not behave, contained in a story, event, or experience:

  • The moral of the story is that honesty is the best policy.

• 5 a lesson that can be learned from a story, esp. a fable or other work of literature