məˈraləd.ē, mȯˈ-, mōˈ-, -ətē, -i noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English moralitee, from Middle French moralité, from Late Latin moralitat-, moralitas, from Latin moralis moral + -tat-, -tas -ty — more at moral
1. moralities plural , archaic : moral traits
a saint … in her moralities — Lord Byron
2.
a. : a moral discourse, statement, or lesson : a piece of moralizing
a poem full of commonplace moralities
ended his lecture with a trite morality
b. : a literary or other imaginative work conceived as a moral allegory and teaching a moral lesson
the book's undeniable power as a morality is diminished by … a style of bright impersonal smartness — Times Literary Supplement
has managed to turn out a morality in which he spares his readers any moralizing — Time
c. : morality play
increased use of the comic element marked the development of the moralities as popular plays — F.H.O'Hara & Marqueritte Bro
3.
a. : a doctrine or system of ideas concerned with conduct
the basic law which an adequate morality ought to state — Marjorie Grene
the object of systems of morality is to take possession of human life — Matthew Arnold
b. moralities plural : particular moral principles or rules of conduct
we were all brought up on one of these moralities — Psychiatry
instruction in the fundamental moralities of life … and its decent amenities — W.A.White
4. : the quality or fact of conforming to or deriving from right ideals of human conduct
admitted the expediency of the law but questioned its morality
5.
a. : moral conduct : goodness and uprightness of behavior : virtue
morality consists in the aims at the ideal — A.N.Whitehead
a new low in public morality — Current History
a person of strict morality
morality today involves a responsible relationship toward the laws of the natural world — P.B.Sears
b. : conduct conforming to the customs or accepted standards of a particular culture or group
in Christian love and forgiveness lay some reversal of Saxon morality — H.O.Taylor
the morality of a world plunging itself into chaos — G.P.Musselman
an abyss separated the domestic and business morality of the Victorian world — F.B.Millett
customs, moralities, scenes, and quaint observances of the time — Joseph Hudnut