ethic

system of moral principles or values

Not to be confused with:

ethnic – relating to a religious, racial, or cultural group

eth·ic

(ĕth′ĭk)

a. A set of principles of right conduct.

b. A theory or a system of moral values: "An ethic of service is at war with a craving for gain" (Gregg Easterbrook).

2. ethics(used with a sing. verb) The study of the general nature of morals and of the specific moral choices to be made by a person; moral philosophy.

3. ethics(used with a sing. or pl. verb) The rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession: medical ethics.

[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.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ethic

(ˈɛθɪk)

(Philosophy) a moral principle or set of moral values held by an individual or group: the Puritan ethic.

adj

another word for ethical

[C15: from Latin ēthicus, from Greek ēthikos, from ēthos custom; see ethos]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

eth•ic

(ˈɛθ ɪk)

n.

1. the body of moral principles or values held by or governing a culture, group, or individual: the Christian ethic; a personal ethic.

2. a moral precept or rule of conduct.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Latin ēthicus < Greek ēthikós=êth(os) ethos + -ikos -ic]

ethic

– ethics – ethical

1. 'ethic'

A particular ethic is an idea or moral belief that influences the behaviour and attitudes of a group of people.

...the ethic of public service.

...the Protestant work ethic.

2. 'ethics'

Ethics are moral beliefs and rules about right and wrong. When you use ethics with this meaning, it is a plural noun. You use a plural form of a verb with it.

Such action was a violation of medical ethics.

Ethics is also the study of questions about what is morally right or wrong. When ethics has this meaning, it is an uncount noun. You use a singular form of a verb with it.

We are only too ready to believe that ethics is a field where thinking does no good.

3. 'ethical'

Ethic is never an adjective. The adjective that means 'relating to ethics' is ethical.

...an ethical problem.

He had no real ethical objection to drinking.

Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	ethic - the principles of right and wrong that are accepted by an individual or a social group; "the Puritan ethic"; "a person with old-fashioned values" moral principle, value orientation, value-system principle - a rule or standard especially of good behavior; "a man of principle"; "he will not violate his principles" Chartism - the principles of a body of 19th century English reformers who advocated better social and economic conditions for working people
	2.	ethic - a system of principles governing morality and acceptable conduct ethical code system of rules, system - a complex of methods or rules governing behavior; "they have to operate under a system they oppose"; "that language has a complex system for indicating gender" precept, principle - rule of personal conduct double standard - an ethical or moral code that applies more strictly to one group than to another

ethic

noun

1. A rule or habit of conduct with regard to right and wrong or a body of such rules and habits:

ethicality, moral (used in plural), morality.

2. The moral quality of a course of action.Used in plural:

ethicality, ethicalness, morality, propriety, righteousness, rightfulness, rightness.

Translations

ethisch

etico

этический

ethic

[ˈeθɪk] N → ética f
see also work D

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

ethic

[ˈɛθɪk] n (= principle) → éthique f
the ethic of public service → l'éthique du service public
see also ethics

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

ethic

n → Ethik f, → Ethos nt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

ethic

[ˈɛθɪk] n → etica
the work ethic → l'etica del lavoro, la deontologia professionale

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"It is a question, not of grammar, but of ethics," I answered.

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The Politics of Aristotle is the second part of a treatise of which the Ethics is the first part.

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Tell them what you think about them and their ghetto ethics. Slam Nietzsche into them and get walloped for your pains.

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Tyler sent him to college he had never heard the word ethics, and yet I am equally sure that in all his life he never has transgressed a single tenet of the code of ethics of an American gentleman.

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"The Muirhead Library of Philosophy was designed as a contribution to the History of Modern Philosophy under the heads: first of Different Schools of Thought--Sensationalist, Realist, Idealist, Intuitivist; secondly of different Subjects--Psychology, Ethics, Aesthetics, Political Philosophy, Theology.

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Of this nature are the maxims in geometry, that "the whole is greater than its part; things equal to the same are equal to one another; two straight lines cannot enclose a space; and all right angles are equal to each other." Of the same nature are these other maxims in ethics and politics, that there cannot be an effect without a cause; that the means ought to be proportioned to the end; that every power ought to be commensurate with its object; that there ought to be no limitation of a power destined to effect a purpose which is itself incapable of limitation.

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With the two former ethics were the end-with the two latter the means.

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That was the day when 'Adam Bede' was a new book, and in this I had my first knowledge of that great intellect for which I had no passion, indeed, but always the deepest respect, the highest honor; and which has from time to time profoundly influenced me by its ethics.

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The ideas are sometimes described as many, coextensive with the universals of sense and also with the first principles of ethics; or again they are absorbed into the single idea of good, and subordinated to it.

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She had never seen her husband in this mood before; and her gentle system of ethics seemed to bend like a reed in the surges of such passions.

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The cursory remarks of the large-minded stranger, of whom he knew absolutely nothing beyond a commonplace name, were sublimed by his death, and influenced Clare more than all the reasoned ethics of the philosophers.

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Though he had thrown on one side the Christian dogmas it never occurred to him to criticise the Christian ethics; he accepted the Christian virtues, and indeed thought it fine to practise them for their own sake, without a thought of reward or punishment.

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