amoral

[ ey-mawr-uhl, a-mawr-, ey-mor-, a-mor- ]

adjective

1. not involving questions of right or wrong; without moral quality; neither moral nor immoral.
2. having no moral standards, restraints, or principles; unaware of or indifferent to questions of right or wrong:

   a completely amoral person.

amoral

/ eɪˈmɒrəl; ˌeɪmɒˈrælɪtɪ /

adjective

1. having no moral quality; nonmoral
2. without moral standards or principles

Usage

Amoral is often wrongly used where immoral is meant. Immoral is properly used to talk about the breaking of moral rules, amoral about people who have no moral code or about places or situations where moral considerations do not apply

Derived Forms

• amorality, noun
• aˈmorally, adverb

Other Words From

• a·moral·ism noun
• a·mo·ral·i·ty [ey-m, uh, -, ral, -i-tee, am-, uh, -], noun
• a·moral·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of amoral¹

First recorded in 1880–85; a- ⁶ + moral

Synonym Study

See immoral.

Example Sentences

They are as amoral as Trump’s vile army — and some of them have joined it.

From Salon

A prosecution psychiatrist portrayed her as a bored, amoral rich kid who lacked a sense of meaning and found a warped sense of liberation as an SLA soldier.

From Los Angeles Times

And now, some conservatives — including House Speaker Mike Johnson — want to end no-fault divorce; they believe it has contributed to making ours what Johnson once called a “completely amoral society.”

From Los Angeles Times

But you will not find Spike anywhere in the canon; a jovial, amoral, ab-tastic himbo, he is apparently unfamiliar with the function of clothes.

From New York Times

And he won an Independent Spirit Award for playing an amoral private detective in the Coen brothers' Blood Simple.

From BBC

Related Words

• barbarous
• excessive
• outrageous
• preposterous
• uncivilized
• unethical
• unfair
• unjust
• unreasonable
• wanton