moral compass

noun

plural moral compasses

: a set of beliefs or values that help guide ethical decisions, judgments, and behavior : an internal sense of right and wrong

Mr. Mandela was unique. How often in a generation does a giant walk among us, with brilliance and courage, guided by an immaculate moral compass?

—Tayari Jones

There are common causes for lapses in ethical judgment that can include ego, power, greed, fear, compulsion, embarrassment, rationalization, or basic lack of a moral compass.

—Kevin Woodhouse

Women who work hard to make businesses and communities better and help set our moral compasses with their actions are my heroes.

—Edie Boan

also : someone or something that serves as a standard for guiding moral choices, judgments, or behavior

Here was the lead character, the show's moral compass, played by its best-known actor—and this is what happens to him?

—Kristi Turnquist

In his role as manager of Changes Group Home in New London, Henderson serves as a moral compass for young men who need direction.

—Tim Frogerg

Examples of moral compass in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

His transformative relationship with the strong women around him is interwoven with his journey as a Muay Thai fighter grappling with his craft’s meaning and his own moral compass after a devastating breakdown. —Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 14 May 2026

Assayas portrays the Russian populace as merely manipulated, as if voters were blank slates for effective propaganda rather than people with moral compasses, capacities for judgment and humanity, ideas and opinions that demagogues recognize and stoke. —Richard Brody, New Yorker, 13 May 2026

Cookie in Empire was a different kind of glue, but the glue nonetheless, and still the moral compass. —Zak Cheney-Rice, Vulture, 13 May 2026

Blindly following a leader without a moral compass would probably have most of the Greatest Generation turning in their graves. —Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 26 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1814, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for moral compass

• encompass
• rumpus

Kids Definition

moral compass

noun

: a set of beliefs or values that help guide ethical decisions, judgments, and behavior : an internal sense of right and wrong