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Obeisance vs Morality - What's the difference?

obeisance | morality |

As nouns the difference between obeisance and morality

is that obeisance is demonstration of an obedient attitude, especially by bowing deeply; a deep bow which demonstrates such an attitude while morality is (uncountable) recognition]] of the distinction between good and evil or between right and wrong; respect for and obedience to the rules of right conduct; the mental disposition or characteristic of [[behave|behaving in a manner intended to produce morally good results.

obeisance

English

Alternative forms

* obeisaunce, obeissance, abaisance (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • Demonstration of an obedient attitude, especially by bowing deeply; a deep bow which demonstrates such an attitude.
  • * 1845 , ":
  • Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
    In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore;
    Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
    But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door —
    Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door —
    Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
  • * 1962 , , How To Do Things With Words (OUP paperback edition), p. 69:
  • The situation in the case of actions which are non-linguistic but similar to performative utterances in that they are the performance of a conventional action (here ritual or ceremonial) is rather like this: suppose I bow deeply before you; it might not be clear whether I am doing obeisance to you or, say, stooping to observe the flora or to ease my indigestion.
  • An obedient attitude.
  • Usage notes

    * Usually in the phrases do obeisance'' or ''make obeisance . English words not following the I before E except after C rule

    morality

    English

    Noun

  • (uncountable) Recognition]] of the distinction between good and evil or between right and wrong; respect for and obedience to the rules of right conduct; the mental disposition or characteristic of [[behave, behaving in a manner intended to produce morally good results.
  • * 1841 , , Heroes and Hero Worship , ch. 3:
  • Without morality , intellect were impossible for him; a thoroughly immoral man'' could not know anything at all! To know a thing, what we can call knowing, a man must first ''love'' the thing, sympathize with it: that is, be ''virtuously related to it.
  • * 1910 , , Theft: A Play In Four Acts , "Characters":
  • Ellery Jackson Hubbard. . . . A man radiating prosperity, optimism and selfishness. Has no morality whatever. Is a conscious individualist, cold-blooded, pitiless, working only for himself, and believing in nothing but himself.
  • * 1911 , , Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens , ch. 16:
  • Science and art without morality are not dangerous in the sense commonly supposed. They are not dangerous like a fire, but dangerous like a fog.
  • * 1965 , " King Moves North," Time , 30 Apr.:
  • It may be true that you cannot legislate morality , but behavior can be regulated.
  • (countable) A set of social rules, customs, traditions, beliefs, or practices which specify proper, acceptable forms of conduct.
  • * 1912 , , Pygmalion , act 5:
  • I have to live for others and not for myself: that's middle class morality .
  • * 1917 , . The Yukon Trail , ch. 14:
  • He smiled a little. "Morality is the average conduct of the average man at a given time and place. It is based on custom and expediency."
  • (countable) A set of personal guiding principles for conduct or a general notion of how to behave, whether respectable or not.
  • * 1781 , , "Sheffield" in Lives of the Poets :
  • His morality was such as naturally proceeds from loose opinions.
  • * 1994 , "Man Convicted of Murder in '92 Bludgeoning," San Jose Mercury News , 4 Nov., p. 2B:
  • Deputy District Attorney Bill Tingle called Jones "the devil's right-hand man" and said he should be punished for his "atrocious morality ."
  • (countable, archaic) A lesson or pronouncement which contains advice about proper behavior.
  • * 1824 , , St. Ronan's Well , ch. 16:
  • "She had done her duty"—"she left the matter to them that had a charge anent such things"—and "Providence would bring the mystery to light in his own fitting time"—such were the moralities with which the good dame consoled herself.
  • * 1882 , , "Vanitas Vanitatum" in Ballads , p. 195:
  • What mean these stale moralities ,
    Sir Preacher, from your desk you mumble?
  • (uncountable, rare) Moral philosophy, the branch of philosophy which studies the grounds and nature of rightness, wrongness, good, and evil.
  • * 1953 , J. Kemp, "Review of The Claim of Morality'' by N.H.G. Robinson," ''The Philosophical Quarterly , vol. 3, no. 12, p. 278:
  • Robinson sums up the conclusion of the first part of his book as being "that the task of the moralist is to set in their proper relation to one another the three different types of moral judgment . . . and so reveal the field of morality as a single self-coherent system".
  • (countable, rare) A particular theory concerning the grounds and nature of rightness, wrongness, good, and evil.
  • * 1954 , , "Ethics and Moral Controversy," The Philosophical Quarterly , vol. 4, no. 14, p. 11:
  • Hume's morality' which ‘implies some sentiment common to all mankind’; Kant's '''morality''' for all rational beings; Butler's ' morality with its presupposition of ‘uniformity of conscience’.

    Usage notes

    * Although the terms morality'' and ''ethics'' may sometimes be used interchangeably, philosophical ethicists often distinguish them, using ''morality'' and its related terms to refer to actual, real-world beliefs and practices concerning proper conduct, and using ''ethics'' to refer to theories and conceptual studies relating to good and evil and right and wrong. In this vein, the American philosopher , ed., ''The Philosophy of Brand Blanshard , Library of Living Philosophers, ISBN 0875483496, "Autobiography", p. 85.

    Synonyms

    * decency, rectitude, righteousness, uprightness, virtuousness * (personal guiding principles) morals * conventions, morals, mores * (lesson or pronouncement which contains advice) homily * (branch of philosophy) ethics, moral philosophy * ethics, moral philosophy

    Antonyms

    * amorality, immorality

    Derived terms

    * antimorality * morality play * morality tale

    References

    Anagrams

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