Dana Milbank
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Ethics vs Morals: Is there a difference?
Ethics and morals are both used in the plural and are often regarded as synonyms, but there is some distinction in how they are used.
Morals often describes one's particular values concerning what is right and what is wrong:
It would go against my morals to help you cheat on the test.
He appears to view himself as a kind of culture warrior, striking out against the crumbling morals of modern society.
Jonathan Goldsbie, Now Toronto, 16 Oct. 2014
While ethics can refer broadly to moral principles, one often sees it applied to questions of correct behavior within a relatively narrow area of activity:
Our class had a debate over the ethics of genetic testing.
Anybody, it seemed, could make the music -- if they couldn't play guitar, they could push a button -- and nobody worried about the ethics of appropriating riffs.
Jennifer Foote, Newsweek, 23 July 1990
In addition, morals usually connotes an element of subjective preference, while ethics tends to suggest aspects of universal fairness and the question of whether or not an action is responsible:
Perhaps you don’t like Kim Kardashian, or her family, or her morals don’t align with yours, or you just think it’s weird that she might have had some plastic surgery, likes to apply makeup in a really complicated way and named her kid “Saint.”
Sarah Boboltz, The Huffington Post, 12 Oct. 2016The Frenches, both professors in The Media School, focused on the ethics of making medical decisions for a child who could not express her own wishes yet…
Chris Mura, Indiana Daily Student, 18 Oct. 2016
Examples of moral in a Sentence
Norman Mailer, New York Review of Books, 27 Mar. 2002
… trip-wire sensitivity to perceived insult often leads to unjustifiable firings and other moral and legal imbroglios.
—John McWhorter, New Republic, 14 Jan. 2002
The modern liberal state was premised on the notion that in the interests of political peace, government would not take sides among the differing moral claims made by religion and traditional culture.
—Francis Fukuyama, Atlantic, May 1999
It was our desire for a moral world, the deep wish to assert the existence of goodness, that generated, as it continues to do, political fantasy.
—Arthur Miller, Timebends, 1987
The author avoids making moral judgments.
Each story teaches an important moral lesson.
He felt that he had a moral obligation to help the poor.
We're confident she has the moral fiber to make the right decision.
Their behavior was not moral.
Animals are not moral creatures and are not responsible for their actions.
Noun
The moral of the story is to be satisfied with what you have.
The moral here is: pay attention to the warning lights in your car.
Socrates was accused of corrupting the morals of the youth of Athens.
The author points to recent cases of fraud as evidence of the lack of morals in the business world.
Mike Hixenbaugh, NBC news, 30 Oct. 2025
Prolonged isolation simply unleashes Jack from the moral strictures holding him back.
—Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 30 Oct. 2025
Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 27 Oct. 2025
The moral of its story is that becoming a stereotype can lead to someone’s demise, especially for Black women who are left vulnerable and unprotected when their community falls apart.
—Meagan Jordan, Rolling Stone, 23 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for moral
Cite this Entry
“Moral.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moral. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
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