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Decency vs Moral - What's the difference?

decency | moral |

As nouns the difference between decency and moral

is that decency is the quality of being decent; propriety while moral is moral.

decency

English

Noun

  • the quality of being decent; propriety
  • * Burke
    • Observances of time, place, and of decency in general.
  • * Roscommon
    • Immodest words admit of no defence, / For want of decency is want of sense.
  • That which is proper or becoming.
  • * Atterbury
    • The external decencies of worship.
  • * Milton
    • Those thousand decencies , that daily flow / From all her words and actions.

    External links

    * (wikipedia "decency")

    moral

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behaviour, especially for teaching right behaviour.
  • * Nathaniel Hawthorne
    • She had wandered without rule or guidance in a moral wilderness.
  • Conforming to a standard of right behaviour; sanctioned by or operative on one's conscience or ethical judgment.
  • * Sir M. Hale
    • the wiser and more moral part of mankind
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.}}
  • Capable of right and wrong action.
  • Probable but not proved.
  • Positively affecting the mind, confidence, or will.

    • Synonyms

    * (conforming to a standard of right behaviour) ethical, incorruptible, noble, righteous, virtuous * (probable but not proved) virtual

    Antonyms

    * immoral, amoral, non-moral, unmoral

    Derived terms

    * moral compass * moral high ground * moral minimum

    Related terms

    * morale * morality * moralize * morals * mores

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (of a narrative) The ethical significance or practical lesson.
    • The moral of the (The Boy Who Cried Wolf) is that if you repeatedly lie, people won't believe you when you tell the truth.
  • * Macaulay
    • We protest against the principle that the world of pure comedy is one into which no moral enters.
  • Moral practices or teachings: modes of conduct.
  • (obsolete) A morality play.

    • Synonyms

    * (moral practices or teachings) ethics, mores

    Hyponyms

    * golden rule

    External links

    * * *

    Anagrams

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