moralize
/ˈmɒ.ɹə.laɪz/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.74 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To make moral reflections (on, upon, about or over something); to regard acts and events as involving a moral.
Intransitive verb
verb
To render moral; to correct the morals of; to give the appearance of morality to.
Transitive verb
verb
To give a moral quality to; to affect the moral quality of, either for better or worse.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "1589, Robert Greene, Menaphon, London: Sampson Clarke, “Arcadia,” […] his Ladie reaching him a Marigold, he began to moralize of it thus merely. I meruaile the Poets that were so prodigall in painting the amorous affection of the Sunne to his Hyacinth, did neuer obserue the relation of loue twixt him and the Marigold:"
- "1741, Samuel Richardson, Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded, London: S. Richardson and J. Osborn,, Volume 3, Letter 8, p. 38, […] I shall not make an unworthy Correspondent altogether; for I can get into thy grave Way, and moralize a little now-and-then:"
- "One hoped, and the other despaired: they chose their own lots, and were righteously doomed to endure them. But you’ll not want to hear my moralising, Mr. Lockwood; you’ll judge, as well as I can, all these things:"
- "The usual conduct of the spoilt child! Had she not witnessed it, and moralized upon it, in other families?"
- "I depended on Philip now, for I had nothing, not even seven cents for carfare. I could be certain, however, that he wouldn’t moralize at me, he’d set about dressing me, he’d scrounge a sweater among his neighborhood acquaintances […]"
- "“Unless I heard the whole repeated, I cannot continue it,” she said. / “Yet it was quickly learned, ‘soon gained, soon gone,’” moralized the tutor."
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈmɒ.ɹə.laɪz/