US /ʌnˈmɔɹəl/ UK /ʌnˈmɒrəl/
adj Freq #257129

Meanings

  1. 1
    adj

    outside the sphere of moral judgment; neither moral nor immoral

    The philosopher treated hunger as an unmoral impulse rather than a vice.

  2. 2
    adj

    lacking moral awareness or principles

    The novel portrays the machine as powerful but entirely unmoral.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 adj · outside the sphere of moral... amoralnonmoralmorally neutral
2 adj · lacking moral awareness or... amoralunprincipled
Opposites
Word family
Derived forms unmorality
Related forms moralimmoralamorality

Etymology

Formed from un- + moral. Unlike immoral, which normally condemns conduct as wrong, unmoral can mean outside moral consideration altogether; nineteenth-century writers sometimes used it where modern prose would prefer amoral or nonmoral.

Topics

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