Definition

1. Verb (transitive):

   • To improve the morals of someone; to make someone more moral: The act of trying to make a person or group's behavior more ethical or virtuous.
   • To interpret or explain the moral meaning of something: To draw out or discuss the ethical lesson or significance from an event, story, or situation.

2. Verb (intransitive):

   • To speak or write about issues of right and wrong, often in a self-righteous or lecturing manner: To express moral judgments, typically in a way that is perceived as preaching or sermonizing.

Examples of Usage

• Transitive verb:

  • The fable was used to moralize the children about the dangers of greed.
  • Critics often moralize the novel, focusing on its themes of justice and redemption.

• Intransitive verb:

  • He has a tendency to moralize about the behavior of younger generations.
  • Instead of just listening, she always feels the need to moralize.

Advanced Usage

• "to moralize at someone": To direct moralizing speech toward a specific person in a critical way.

  • He's always moralizing at his colleagues about their work-life balance.

• Used in a negative or critical sense to describe unwelcome or excessive preaching.

  • The article doesn't just report the news; it moralizes endlessly about the decline of society.

Variants and Related Words

• Moralizer (noun): A person who moralizes.

  • He was seen as a tiresome moralizer.

• Moralizing (noun/adj): The act or practice of moralizing; (as an adjective) having the character of a moral lecture.

  • I'm tired of his constant moralizing.
  • She dismissed his comments as moralizing rhetoric.

• Moralization (noun): The process of moralizing; the act of interpreting something morally.

  • The moralization of political discourse can be polarizing.

Synonyms

• Preach: To advocate for moral or religious principles, especially in a persistent or tedious way.
• Sermonize: To deliver or compose a sermon; to speak in a moralizing or lecturing manner.
• Pontificate: To express opinions or judgments in a dogmatic way.
• Lecture: To reprimand or advise at length.

Related Phrasal Verbs/Constructions

• Moralize about/on/over: To speak or write moral judgments concerning a particular topic.
  • Politicians often moralize about family values.
  • He spent the evening moralizing on the state of modern art.

Related Idioms/Phrases

• To stand on a moral high horse: This idiom describes a person who moralizes in a superior, self-righteous way, which is often the perceived attitude of someone who moralizes excessively.
  • She's always standing on her moral high horse, telling everyone else how to live.

Verb

1. improve the morals of
2. speak as if delivering a sermon; express moral judgements
   • This man always sermonizes
3. interpret the moral meaning of
   • moralize a story