SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
ethical
adjective
Relating to principles of right conduct or consistent with accepted moral standards.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Morally sound
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topConscientious stresses care and responsibility; ethical focuses on standards of right conduct.
Concerning moral principles
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topAn ethical question concerns moral principles even when no action has yet been judged right or wrong.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See ethical in use
The seminar considered the ethical responsibilities of a writer using another person's letters.
An ethical question arose in a fictional arts cooperative when a panel member accepted a valuable gift from someone seeking scarce studio time.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license