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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
Synonyms
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.
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Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker, 28 Nov. 2023
Leaders who demonstrate ethical behavior and base decisions on strong moral values set an example for their teams.
—Paola Cecchi-Dimeglio, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2023
The version of communism that would ultimately come to dominate would rely more on economic science than moral arguments for egalitarianism made by thinkers like Cabet.
—John Last, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Nov. 2023
Giving unapproved therapies to terminally-ill patients was an idea fraught with moral pitfalls.
—Lee Cowan, CBS News, 26 Nov. 2023
The United Nations is suffering from acute moral failure and can’t fulfill its core mission.
—Eli Cohen, WSJ, 26 Nov. 2023
Here is a war with a clear front line with a clear moral imperative.
—David Marchese David Marchese Photograph By Mamadi Doumbouya, New York Times, 22 Nov. 2023
Along with the usual tension of the ticking clock, the tough task, the difficult decision — all very effective — participants are made uncomfortable on a moral level; one might be called upon to choose between acting nobly and metaphorically assassinating a competitor, in front of the crowd.
—Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 22 Nov. 2023
The stakes of the modern moon race are different from the Cold War contest between the Soviet Union and the United States, where the goal of the sprint to plant a flag in lunar soil was to claim moral and technological dominance for a political system.
—Christian Davenport, Washington Post, 13 Nov. 2023
Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Nov. 2023
In France, people still feel a sense of pride in being French, and that sense of pride is separate from the country’s morals.
—Billboard Japan, Billboard, 26 Oct. 2023
But Randolph, a conservative man in manners and morals, knew Rustin’s value and stood by him.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2023
The movie follows the basic beats of Ellis’ tweets (man sees ghost, man investigates ghost, man tries to get rid of ghost), ending in a paint-by-numbers showdown, with a weirdly earnest anti-bullying moral.
—Kate Knibbs, WIRED, 13 Oct. 2023
That play was called Abraham, and here, millennia later, Perkins’s sweet, enthusiastic, and—yes, despite his musty morals—heroic hermit is still the soul of the story.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 22 Sep. 2023
By being applied universally, that rule was meant to avoid hurt feelings — the kind that inevitably follow when one husband is accused of bad manners or bad morals.
—Jacobina Martin, Washington Post, 19 Oct. 2023
Sponsor deals between companies like Dunkin and stars like Charli D’Amelio often include a morals clause that allows for immediate termination if the star speaks against the brand.
—Byalexandra Sternlicht, Fortune, 4 Oct. 2023
What were some of their perspectives regarding suicide and the complicated morals around that?
—Ariel Shapiro, The Verge, 3 Oct. 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'moral.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Phrases Containing moral
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Dictionary Entries Near moral
Cite this Entry
“Moral.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moral. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.
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More from Merriam-Webster on moral
Nglish: Translation of moral for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of moral for Arabic Speakers
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