*moral*

n. [ Cf. F. démoralisation. ] The act of corrupting or subverting morals. Especially: The act of corrupting or subverting discipline, courage, hope, etc., or the state of being corrupted or subverted in discipline, courage, etc.; as, the demoralization of an army or navy. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Demoralized p. pr. & vb. n. Demoralizing. ] [ F. démoraliser; pref. dé- (L. dis- or de) + moraliser. See Moralize. ] To corrupt or undermine in morals; to destroy or lessen the effect of moral principles on; to render corrupt or untrustworthy in morals, in discipline, in courage, spirit, etc.; to weaken in spirit or efficiency. [ 1913 Webster ]

The demoralizing example of profligate power and prosperous crime. Walsh. [ 1913 Webster ]

The vices of the nobility had demoralized the army. Bancroft. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. made less hopeful or enthusiastic; rendered pessimistic; as, the demoralized Iraqi ground troops put up little resistance.
Syn. -- discouraged, disheartened. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

adj. 1. discouraging. Opposite of encouraging.
Syn. -- demoralising, disheartening, dispiriting. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

a. [ L. femur, femoris, thigh: cf. F. fémoral. ] Pertaining to the femur or thigh; as, the femoral artery. “Femoral habiliments.” Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. humoral. ] Pertaining to, or proceeding from, the humors; as, a humoral fever. [ 1913 Webster ]

Humoral pathology (Med.), the pathology, or doctrine of the nature of diseases, which attributes all morbid phenomena to the disordered condition of the fluids or humors of the body. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Med.) The state or quality of being humoral. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) The doctrine that diseases proceed from the humors; humorism. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who favors the humoral pathology or believes in humoralism. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Anat.) Pertaining to the ilium and femur; as, iliofemoral ligaments. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. im- not + moral: cf. F. immoral. ] Not moral; inconsistent with rectitude, purity, or good morals; contrary to conscience or the divine law; wicked; unjust; dishonest; vicious; licentious; as, an immoral man; an immoral deed.

Syn. -- Wicked; sinful; criminal; vicious; unjust; dishonest; depraved; impure; unchaste; profligate; dissolute; abandoned; licentious; lewd; obscene. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Immoralities [ Cf. F. immoralité. ] 1. The state or quality of being immoral; vice. [ 1913 Webster ]

The root of all immorality. Sir W. Temple. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An immoral act or practice. [ 1913 Webster ]

Luxury and sloth and then a great drove of heresies and immoralities broke loose among them. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an immoral manner; wickedly. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Keep at the least within the compass of moral actions, which have in them vice or virtue. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mankind is broken loose from moral bands. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

She had wandered without rule or guidance in a moral wilderness. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The wiser and more moral part of mankind. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Capable of right and wrong action or of being governed by a sense of right; subject to the law of duty. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Supported by reason or probability; practically sufficient; -- opposed to legal or demonstrable; as, a moral evidence; a moral certainty. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Serving to teach or convey a moral; as, a moral lesson; moral tales. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Corrupt in their morals as vice could make them. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thus may we gather honey from the weed,
And make a moral of the devil himself. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To point a moral, or adorn a tale. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

We protest against the principle that the world of pure comedy is one into which no moral enters. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A morality play. See Morality, 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To moralize. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. See Moral, a. ] The moral condition, or the condition in other respects, so far as it is affected by, or dependent upon, moral considerations, such as zeal, spirit, hope, and confidence; mental state, as of a body of men, an army, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A moralizer. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. moralize. [ Chiefly Brit. ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A maxim or saying embodying a moral truth. Farrar. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. moraliste. ] 1. One who moralizes; one who teaches or animadverts upon the duties of life; a writer of essays intended to correct vice and inculcate moral duties. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who practices moral duties; a person who lives in conformity with moral rules; one of correct deportment and dealings with his fellow-creatures; -- sometimes used in contradistinction to one whose life is controlled by religious motives. [ 1913 Webster ]

The love (in the moralist of virtue, but in the Christian) of God himself. Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. narrowly and conventionally moral; -- of people. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. disposed to moralize{ 2 }; -- of people.
Syn. -- moralizing. [ PJC ]

n.; pl. Moralities [ L. moralitas: cf. F. moralité. ] 1. The relation of conformity or nonconformity to the moral standard or rule; quality of an intention, a character, an action, a principle, or a sentiment, when tried by the standard of right. [ 1913 Webster ]

The morality of an action is founded in the freedom of that principle, by virtue of which it is in the agent's power, having all things ready and requisite to the performance of an action, either to perform or not perform it. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The quality of an action which renders it good; the conformity of an act to the accepted standard of right. [ 1913 Webster ]

Of moralitee he was the flower. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am bold to think that morality is capable of demonstration. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The doctrines or rules of moral duties, or the duties of men in their social character; ethics. [ 1913 Webster ]

The end of morality is to procure the affections to obey reason, and not to invade it. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

The system of morality to be gathered out of . . . ancient sages falls very short of that delivered in the gospel. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The practice of the moral duties; rectitude of life; conformity to the standard of right; virtue; as, we often admire the politeness of men whose morality we question. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A kind of allegorical play, so termed because it consisted of discourses in praise of morality between actors representing such characters as Charity, Faith, Death, Vice, etc. Such plays were occasionally exhibited as late as the reign of Henry VIII. Strutt. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Intent; meaning; moral. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Taketh the morality thereof, good men. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. moralisation. ] 1. The act of moralizing; moral reflections or discourse. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Explanation in a moral sense. T. Warton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Moralized p. pr. & vb. n. Moralizing ] [ Cf. F. moraliser. ] 1. To apply to a moral purpose; to explain in a moral sense; to draw a moral from. [ 1913 Webster ]

This fable is moralized in a common proverb. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

Did he not moralize this spectacle? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To furnish with moral lessons, teachings, or examples; to lend a moral to. [ 1913 Webster ]

While chastening thoughts of sweetest use, bestowed
By Wisdom, moralize his pensive road. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To render moral; to correct the morals of. [ 1913 Webster ]

It had a large share in moralizing the poor white people of the country. D. Ramsay. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To give a moral quality to; to affect the moral quality of, either for better or worse. [ 1913 Webster ]

Good and bad stars moralize not our actions. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To make moral reflections; to regard acts and events as involving a moral. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. to lecture to a person in a manner asserting moral principles.
Syn. -- sermonize, preachify, moralise. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One who moralizes. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. 1. In a moral or ethical sense; according to the rules of morality. [ 1913 Webster ]

By good, good morally so called, “bonum honestum” ought chiefly to be understood. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. According to moral rules; virtuously. “To live morally.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. In moral qualities; in disposition and character; as, one who physically and morally endures hardships. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. In a manner calculated to serve as the basis of action; according to the usual course of things and human judgment; according to reason and probability. [ 1913 Webster ]

It is morally impossible for an hypocrite to keep himself long upon his guard. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. motivation based on ideas of right and wrong.
Syn. -- ethical motive, ethics, morality. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ L. nemoralis, fr. nemus, nemoris, a wood or grove: cf. F. némoral. ] Of or pertaining to a wood or grove. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Neither moral nor immoral; having no connection with morals; not within the sphere of morals or ethics; not ethical; as, imagination is of its nature nonmoral; infants are nonmoral. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. + WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Having no moral perception, quality, or relation; involving no idea of morality; -- distinguished from both moral and immoral. -- Un`mo*ral"i*ty n. [1913 Webster]