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. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Supported by reason or probability; practically
sufficient; -- opposed to {legal} or {demonstrable}; as, a
moral evidence; a moral certainty.
6. 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.
Corrupt in their morals as vice could make them.
--South.
2. 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.
3. A morality play. See {Morality}, 5.