Morally

How to spell morally

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce morally

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does morally mean?

1. adverbIn a way that relates to principles of right and wrong, or with regard to what is ethical.

Morally in a sentence

• The board felt morally obliged to refund the affected customers.

• She argued that the policy was morally wrong despite being legal.

Where does morally come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin noun mos, with its plural mores, which meant the customs, habits, and accepted conduct of a community. From that the Romans formed the adjective moralis, meaning 'relating to manners or character'; the statesman Cicero is credited with coining moralis specifically to render the Greek idea of ethikos, the study of character and right conduct. English took 'moral' through Old French in the 1300s, and the adverb 'morally' was built on it later by adding the standard -ly ending. The spelling trap sits right at that join: you keep the full adjective 'moral' and simply add '-ly', which produces the doubled l in 'morally', not the single l that writers sometimes guess. The same mores root still survives in English in its original plural form when we talk about the social mores of a group.

How the word is built

• mor- (from Latin mos, mores: custom, conduct)
• -al (adjective suffix)
• -ly (adverb suffix)