Definitions

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

  • noun A conventional moral maxim or attitude.
  • noun The act or practice of moralizing.
  • noun Often undue concern for morality.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A moral maxim or saying; moral counsel or advice; moral sermonizing; inculcation of morality.
  • noun The practice of morality as distinct from religion; the absorption of religion in mere morality.
  • noun A tendency to moralize; a habit of moralizing.

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

  • noun A maxim or saying embodying a moral truth.

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

  • noun The act or practice of moralizing.
  • noun A maxim or saying embodying a moral truth.

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

  • noun a moral maxim
  • noun judgments about another person's morality

Etymologies

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Examples

  • One indication of a creeping moralism is the application of a religious gloss to activities or phenomena where previously there had been none.

    Fatwa City 2005

  • One indication of a creeping moralism is the application of a religious gloss to activities or phenomena where previously there had been none.

    Fatwa City 2005

  • I think you are right that Potter’s moralism is pretty empty compared to Anderson’s.

    Bad on Bad | Her Bad Mother 2007

  • The gerrymandering cases rested on what could be called the moralism of appearances.

    Balkinization 2007

  • The gerrymandering cases rested on what could be called the moralism of appearances.

    Balkinization 2007

  • If, as all this seems to show, the thought of a specific grace of God in Christ appears virtually neutralised, the adherence to the language of the cultus (Justin and Tatian) and Justin's conception of the Lord's Supper show that the Apologists strove to get beyond moralism, that is, they tried to supplement it through the mysteries.

    History of Dogma, Volume 2 (of 7) Adolph Harnack 1890

  • Newsweek connects this to his support of a priest charged with accused of molestation and characterizes Giuliani's "moralism" as uneven and " tribal" "tribal" because the priest was from his neighborhood.

    Archive 2007-11-01 Ann Althouse 2007

  • Newsweek connects this to his support of a priest charged with accused of molestation and characterizes Giuliani's "moralism" as uneven and " tribal" "tribal" because the priest was from his neighborhood.

    "There is an intensity and intimacy to Giuliani that can be unsettling." Ann Althouse 2007

  • Leaders could not expect police or hostages to risk their lives for the kind of moralism Schreiber advocates.

    Tolerating Terrorism Marshall, Rachelle 1979

  • They, being in the bondage of "moralism," attacked Governments as unjust, real Governments, with real guns.

    Alarms and Discursions 1905

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