moralist

[ mawr-uh-list, mor- ]

noun

1. a person who teaches or inculcates morality.
2. a philosopher concerned with the principles of morality.
3. a person who practices morality.
4. a person concerned with regulating the morals of others, as by imposing censorship.

moralist

/ ˈmɒrəlɪst /

noun

1. a person who seeks to regulate the morals of others or to imbue others with a sense of morality
2. a person who lives in accordance with moral principles
3. a philosopher who is concerned with casuistic discussions of right action, or who seeks a general characterization of right action, often contrasted with a moral philosopher whose concern is with general philosophical questions about ethics

Derived Forms

• ˌmoralˈistic, adjective
• ˌmoralˈistically, adverb

Other Words From

• mor·al·is·tic [mawr-, uh, -, lis, -tik, mor-], adjective
• an·ti·mor·al·ist noun adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of moralist¹

First recorded in 1615–25; moral + -ist

Example Sentences

One need not be a moralist to harbor concerns about the effect of legalized betting on the integrity of college and professional sports.

From Los Angeles Times

Throughout her career, O’Connor — whose death, at 56, was announced on Wednesday — was a fervent moralist, an uncompromised voice of social progress and someone who found stardom, and its sandpapered and glossed boundaries, to be a kind of sickness.

From New York Times

That law was spearheaded by Anthony Comstock, a Christian moralist activist and head of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice.

From Scientific American

Garcia even had the opportunity to play the moralist.

From Los Angeles Times

Burke strives to avoid being prescriptive but doesn’t look kindly on either extreme — on the one hand, the capitalist free-for-all that left Pornhub and other sites open to videos involving trafficked women or minors for many years, on the other, a moralist crusade to ban all pornography.

From Los Angeles Times