Moral Decline Standards Adjective ˈmɒrəl ˈmɔːrəl Issue/Dilemma Traditional

• a moral issue/dilemma
• traditional moral values
• a decline in moral standards
• moral and ethical questions

moral

1. connected with principles of right and wrong behaviour
• a moral issue/dilemma
• traditional moral values
• a decline in moral standards
• moral and ethical questions
• The basic moral philosophies of most world religions are remarkably similar.
• He was a deeply religious man with a highly developed moral sense.
• The newspapers were full of moral outrage at the weakness of other countries.

Extra Examples

• She's always lamenting what she sees as the decline in moral standards.
• The colonel stumped out, his face flushed with moral indignation.
• The press whipped up a moral panic over these so-called ‘welfare scroungers’.
2. based on your own sense of what is right and fair, not on legal rights or duties
• SYNONYM ethical
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/ethical
• moral responsibility/duty/authority
• We have a moral imperative to help whenever we can.
• I make no moral judgement on this decision.
• Governments have at least a moral obligation to answer these questions.
• Children learn to develop their own moral code for adulthood.
• The job was to call on all her diplomatic skills and moral courage (= the courage to do what you think is right).

Extra Examples

• He brings that moral authority of someone who fought for human rights.
• Politicians have a moral obligation to address the needs of the poorest.
• She felt she had a moral duty to look after her elderly parents.
3. following the standards of behaviour considered acceptable and right by most people
• SYNONYM good
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/good_2
• He led a very moral life.
• a very moral person
• We try to teach our students to be conscientious, moral young people.
4. able to understand the difference between right and wrong
• Children are not naturally moral beings.
5. to claim that your side of an argument is morally better than your opponents’ side; to argue in a way that makes your side seem morally better
• I was angry with his blatant attempt to take the moral high ground.

Word Origin

• late Middle English: from Latin moralis, from mos, mor- ‘custom’, (plural) mores ‘morals’. As a noun the word was first used to translate Latin Moralia, the title of St Gregory the Great's moral exposition of the Book of Job, and was later applied to the works of various classical writers.