Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A set of principles of right conduct.
  • noun A theory or a system of moral values.
  • noun The study of the general nature of morals and of the specific moral choices to be made by a person; moral philosophy.
  • noun The rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Same as ethical.
  • noun Same as ethics.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of, or belonging to, morals; treating of the moral feelings or duties; containing percepts of morality; moral
  • adjective (Gram.) a use of the dative of a pronoun to signify that the person or thing spoken of is regarded with interest by some one; as, Quid mihi Celsus agit? How does my friend Celsus do?
  • noun the principles of right and wrong that are accepted by an individual or a social group.
  • noun a system of principles governing morality and acceptable conduct.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Moral, relating to morals.
  • noun a set of principles of right and wrong behaviour guiding, or representative of, a specific culture, society, group, or individual.
  • noun the morality of an action

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a system of principles governing morality and acceptable conduct
  • noun the principles of right and wrong that are accepted by an individual or a social group

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English ethik, from Old French ethique (from Late Latin ēthica, from Greek ēthika, ethics) and from Latin ēthicē (from Greek ēthikē), both from Greek ēthikos, ethical, from ēthos, character; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French ethique, from Late Latin ethica, from Ancient Greek ἠθική (ēthike), from ἠθικός (ēthikos, "of or for morals, moral, expressing character"), from ἦθος (ēthos, "character, moral nature").

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Examples

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  • Used as a misspelling of "ethnic."

    May 6, 2009