amoral
/eɪˈmɒr(ə)l
/adjective
Lacking a moral sense; unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness of something: an amoral attitude to sex...
- Widespread as it may be, it is nevertheless a way of thinking that is profoundly amoral, unethical and indeed barbaric.
- She has been exposed as an amoral, unfeeling, self-serving, despicably conscience-less human being.
- It's taken a very amoral stand, in that essential issues are often portrayed as simply one side says this and the other side says that.
Synonyms
unprincipled, without standards, without morals;
unethical, without scruples, unscrupulous
Usage
Amoral is distinct in meaning from immoral: while immoral means ‘not conforming to accepted standards of morality’, amoral implies ‘not concerned with morality’. The difference is illustrated in the following two examples: the client pays for the amoral expertise of the lawyer; the council judged the film to be immoral and obscene.
Derivatives
amoralism
- Traditionalists tolerate a certain amount of amoralism in the market because they see the market as an important disciplining institution - a valuable tool of social order.
- In many of his over 150 tales, he flirts with mercilessness and amoralism.
- Another is to retreat into various shades of nihilism, cynicism or amoralism, gazing blankly at a world of stone.
amoralist
- If you think atheists are all miserable, nihilistic amoralists, this book should put you straight.
- The writings of a great amoralist - a de Sade, a Stirner, a Nietzsche - can inspire a handful of murders in two centuries.
- Many cognitivists have not found this a persuasive characterization of all amoralists.
amorality
/ noun ...- Immorality or amorality in such a system has potential consequences that reach far beyond the well being of the individual's soul.
- Violence, profanity, and amorality all have their place in a story, if these qualities are observed or reported truths.
- That emotion, when it comes, releases us from the amorality and nastiness of our situation as voyeurs.
amorally
- As far as this particular scenario is concerned, ethics may as well be a county in the south of England, so amorally do the main protagonists appear to have behaved.
- When was the last time you saw a doctor behaving amorally on a Medical drama?
- If their gift is used amorally they may end up manipulating others for their own benefit.