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# ethics

«ethics» in Mova's school dictionary: **right and wrong that guide how people act** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (ethics; also ethic, ethics as a subject)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Ethics are the ideas about what is right and wrong that guide how people act. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ethics/#m1)

2) Ethics is a school subject or part of philosophy that thinks about right and wrong, fairness, and how to be good. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ethics/#m2)

3) (formal) The ethics of a job are its rules for honest behaviour, like a doctor keeping your secrets. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ethics/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In class, ethics lessons use dilemmas: should you tell on a friend who cheated? Pupils weigh consequences, rules, and kindness. Adults talk about business ethics, medical ethics and the ethics of science (for example, testing on animals). Phrases: a code of ethics, work ethic (being willing to work hard), against my ethics, the ethics of something.

### examples

- In ethics class we argued about whether lying is ever right. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ethics/#x1)
- The ethics of keeping animals in zoos is a big question. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ethics/#x2)
- Doctors follow a strict code of ethics. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ethics/#x3)
- The ethics olympiad asked teams to solve hard dilemmas. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ethics/#x4)
- Gran has a strong work ethic and never misses a day. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ethics/#x5)
- Taking the money would be against his ethics. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ethics/#x6)
- Ethics is about how we should treat each other. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ethics/#x7)

### note

As a subject, "ethics" takes a singular verb: "Ethics is interesting." As someone's principles, it is plural: "His ethics are strict." Adjective ethical. Not "ethnics" (about peoples and cultures).

### In the corpora

- [Ethics is careful thinking about right and wrong, good and bad, and the reasons for them.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/36-what-is-an-ethics-olympiad/5/)
- [An ethics olympiad is a competition where school teams discuss real dilemmas.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/36-what-is-an-ethics-olympiad/7/)
- [The Ethics Bowl is a similar competition in the USA and elsewhere, where teams analyse cases and respond to each other.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/36-what-is-an-ethics-olympiad/9/)
- [Unlike a debate, an ethics bowl does not give teams a side they must defend; they may agree with each other.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/36-what-is-an-ethics-olympiad/10/)
- [Character thinking asks what a good, kind, brave and honest person would do; philosophers call it virtue ethics.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/7/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «ethics» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ethics/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.