moral compass

名词 n.
中文释义
英 /ˌmɒɹəl ˈkʌmpəs/|/ˌmɒɹl̩-/    美 /ˌmɔɹəl ˈkʌmpəs/

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. An inner sense which distinguishes what is right from what is wrong, functioning as a guide for morally appropriate behaviour.
    — To every sane man in all climes and ages the great Creator has given a moral compass to enable him to avoid the wrong and follow the right. This moral compass we call conscience.
  2. A belief system, person, etc. serving as a guide for morally appropriate behaviour.
    — Their catastrophe stemmed from disregarding Christian doctrine: radix malorum est cupiditas (greed is the root of all evil). Without a moral compass, [Robert] Stone's characters cannot even plead ignorance.
  3. The full range of actions, vices, or virtues, which may affect others and which are available as choices to a person, group, or people in general. archaic
    — [W]hile blowing opposite arguments from every point of the moral compass, the adventurous Baron quietly saw himself left to navigate his own vessel his own way, through this storm of his own raising.

词形变化

moral compasses plural

词源

From moral (“of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behaviour; conforming to a standard of right behaviour”) + compass (“device used to determine the cardinal directions”), from the fact that a compass indicates various directions on its face (sense 3), and enables its user to find the correct direction to go in (sense 1).
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