MOR'AL, a. [L. moralis, from mos, moris, manner.]

1. Relating to the practice, manners or conduct of men as social beings in relation to each other, and with reference to right and wrong. The word moral is applicable to actions that are good or evil, virtuous or vicious, and has reference to the law of God as the standard by which their character is to be determined. The word however may be applied to actions which affect only, or primarily and principally, a person's own happiness. Keep at the least within the compass of moral actions, / which have in them vice or virtue. Hooker. Mankind is broken loose from moral bands. Dryden.
2. Subject to the moral law and capable of moral actions; bound to perform social duties; as, a moral agent or being.
3. Supported by the evidence of reason or probability; founded on experience of the ordinary course of things; as, moral certainty, distinguished from physical or mathematical certainty or demonstration. Physical and mathematical certainty may be styled infallible, and moral certainty may be properly styled indubitable. Wilkins. Things of a moral nature may be proved by moral arguments. Tillotson.
4. Conformed to rules of right, or to the divine law respecting social duties; virtuous; just; as when we say, a particular action is not moral.
5. Conformed to law and right in exterior deportment; as, he leads a good moral life.
6. Reasoning or instructing with regard to vice and virtue. Whilst thou, a moral fool, sitt'st still and cri'st. Shak.
7. In general, moral denotes something which respects the conduct of men and their relations as social beings whose actions have a bearing on each other's rights and happiness, and are therefore right or wrong, virtuous or vicious; as, moral character; moral views; moral knowledge; moral sentiments; moral maxims; moral approbation; moral doubts; moral justice; moral virtues; moral obligations, &c. Or moral denotes something which respects the intellectual powers of man, as distinct from his physical powers. Thus we speak of moral evidence, moral arguments, moral persuasion, moral certainty, moral force; which operate on the mind. Moral law, the law of God which prescribes the moral or social duties, and prohibits the transgression of them. Moral sense, an innate or natural sense of right and wrong; an instinctive perception of what is right or wrong in moral conduct, which approves some actions and disapproves others, independent of education or the knowledge of any positive rule or law. But the existence of any such moral sense is very much doubted. Paley. Encyc. Moral philosophy, the science of manners and duty; the science which treats of the nature and condition of man as a social being, of the duties which result from his social relations, and the reasons on which they are founded.

1. Morality; the doctrine or practice of the duties life. [Not much used.] Prior.
2. The doctrine inculcated by a fiction; the accommodation of a fable to form the morals. The moral is the first business of the poet. Dryden.

To moralize. [Not in use.]

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.
   
   

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

   Mankind is broken loose from moral bands. Dryden.

   She had wandered without rule or guidance in a moral wilderness. Hawthorne.

2. The doctrine or practice of the duties of life; manner of living as regards right and wrong; conduct; behavior; -- usually in the plural.
   
   

   Corrupt in their morals as vice could make them. South.

3. To moralize.
   
   
   [Obs.] Shak.
4. 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.
   
   

   The wiser and more moral part of mankind. Sir M. Hale.

5. 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.
   
   

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

   To point a moral, or adorn a tale. Johnson.

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

6. Capable of right and wrong action or of being governed by a sense of right; subject to the law of duty.
   
   

   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.

7. A morality play. See Morality, 5.
8. 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.
9. Supported by reason or probability; practically sufficient; -- opposed to legal or demonstrable; as, a moral evidence; a moral certainty.
10. Serving to teach or convey a moral; as, a moral lesson; moral tales.
    
    

    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.