# ethics

Pronunciation: say "ETH-iks" US/UK /ˈɛθ.ɪks/, AUS /ˈeθ.ɪks/

## Noun

1. The standards of conduct that govern a person's behavior, especially that of a member of a profession.
   - Simple: The rules of right behavior that guide how someone acts, especially in their job.
   - _Journalistic ethics forbid reporters from fabricating quotes._
   - _The board reviewed whether the surgeon's conduct had violated medical ethics._
2. The principles of right and wrong that govern human conduct; morality.
   - Simple: Ideas about what is right and wrong in how people act.
   - _Personal ethics often shape the choices people make under pressure._
   - _A society without shared ethics struggles to hold itself together._
3. The branch of study concerned with principles relating to right and wrong conduct.
   - Simple: The study of what is right and wrong, and how people should act.
   - _He teaches ethics in the philosophy department._
   - _Modern ethics often draws on both ancient and contemporary thinkers._
4. Plural of ethic. — plural of ethic
   - Simple: Plural of ethic. Use this when talking about more than one rule of right behavior.
   - _The competing ethics of the two political movements rarely overlapped._
   - _Ancient and modern ethics sometimes reach opposite conclusions about the same act._

## Origin

It came through Middle English and Middle French from Late Latin ethica, which came from Ancient Greek ēthikḗ, from ēthikós ("of or for morals, moral"), from êthos ("character, moral nature").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ethics (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).