moralism

noun moralisms

1. derogatory, often, uncountable, usually The act or practice of moralizing (making moral reflections or judging the morality of others). 1937, Helen Foster Snow (as Nym Wales), “The Modern Chinese Literary Movement” in Edgar Snow (ed.), Living China: Modern Chinese Short Stories, New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, p. 337, The Romantic movement […] struggled for ‘art for art’s sake’ against the old moralism and didacticism […]
2. countable, derogatory, often, usually A maxim or saying believed by the speaker to embody a moral truth; an instance of moralizing. There was a delicious spice of worldliness in the topics of conversation which was quite refreshing to him, accustomed as he was to the somewhat droning moralisms of his “congenial friends.”
3. dated, uncountable, usually Religious practice that focuses on morality while placing little emphasis on doctrine or the metaphysical; adherence to a system of morality with little or no reference to religion. That thin, colorless protestantism of her fathers had faded into a nameless moralism. She had no Christ before whom she could pour her adoration and love. Instead, she had taken to herself a man; and now the clay of his being was crumbling in her hands....

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