ethical
pronunciation
How to pronounce ethical in British English:
UK [ˈeθɪkl]
How to pronounce ethical in American English:
US [ˈeθɪkl]
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- Adjective:
- of or relating to the philosophical study of ethics
- conforming to accepted standards of social or professional behavior
- adhering to ethical and moral principles
Word Origin
- ethical
- ethical: [17] The underlying meaning of Greek ēthos was ‘personal disposition’. It came ultimately from prehistoric Indo-European *swedh-, a compound formed from the reflexive pronoun *swe- ‘oneself’ and dhē- ‘put’ (from which English gets do). Gradually the meaning broadened out to ‘trait, character’ and then ‘custom’, or in the plural ‘manners’ or ‘morals’.English acquired it, in the sense ‘distinctive characteristic’ (based on the usage of Aristotle), in the 19th century. The Greek derived adjective ēthikós entered English, via Latin ēthicus, as ethic in the 16th century. This had largely been replaced by ethical by the end of the 17th century, but it has survived as a noun (as in ‘the work ethic’), which actually predates the adjective in English by about two hundred years.The plural usage ethics ‘science of morals’ dates from the beginning of the 17th century.=> do
- ethical (adj.)
- c. 1600, "pertaining to morality," from ethic + -al (1). Related: Ethicality; ethically.
Antonym
Example
- 1. These trends raise social , ethical and economic dilemmas .
- 2. No ethical physician would participate in such a study .
- 3. Recycling waste heat poses no ethical difficulty .
- 4. This mandatory testing policy raises a number of ethical issues .
- 5. Nor am I suggesting that all ethical consumption is useless .