moral authority

noun

Of a person, institution, or written work, the quality or characteristic of being respected for having good character or knowledge, especially as a source of guidance or an exemplar of proper conduct.

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Meanings

nounmoral authority (uncountable)
  1. uncountableOf a person, institution, or written work, the quality or characteristic of being respected for having good character or knowledge, especially as a source of guidance or an exemplar of proper conduct.

    The people adopted the government they had framed, and thus gave it its moral authority.

    1835, John Orville Taylor, The District School or National Education 3rd ed., Carey, Lea, and Blanchard, Philadelphia, p. 287
    2 more examples

    There was an essay . . . devoted to a consideration of the many questions which must be reopened and reconsidered on their merits if the teaching of the Church of England were to cease to carry moral authority.

    1903, Samuel Butler, chapter 85, in The Way of All Flesh

    While the Dalai Lama is lauded in much of the world as a figure of moral authority, Beijing reviles the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

    2007 October 16, “Bush to Meet With Dalai Lama Today”, in Time
  2. uncountableOne possessing this characteristic.

    Santa is not only a moral authority, like a strict father, but he is also like a nurturing parent, traditionally, a mother.

    2011, Scott C. Lowe, Christmas - Philosophy for Everyone: Better Than a Lump of Coal, page 100
    2 more examples

    At first Martin Luther King Jr. invoked Booker as a moral authority for King's ethic of love and his posture of passive resistance to white hatred.

    2009, Robert Jefferson Norrell, Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washington, page 431

    No less a moral authority than Elie Wiesel, the celebrated holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate, urged President Bush to invade Iraq to defend freedom and liberate the Iraqi people.

    2010, Dan P. McAdams, George W. Bush and the Redemptive Dream, page 207
  3. uncountableThe right or power to act (or direct others to act), based on the belief that the actor is moral, rather than on the actor having or needing some formal power to do so.

    Victims of palpable injustice enjoy a moral authority that is likely to provide access to even busy players.

    2008, Philip B. Heymann, Living the Policy Process, page 121
    2 more examples

    Thus, when the military breaches the existing political order, it will be forced to claim a moral authority for its actions.

    2002, Samuel Edward Finer, The Man on Horseback: The Role of the Military in Politics, page 20

    In that knowledge I realized that while I lacked any legal authority, I already possessed all the necessary moral authority to confront and interview Watson for his crimes.

    2011, Daniel Walker, God in a Brothel: An Undercover Journey into Sex Trafficking and Rescue, page 124

Translations

Dutch moreel gezag
  • moreel gezagquality or characteristic of being respected for being moral
German moralische authorität
  • moralische authoritätquality or characteristic of being respected for being moral
Romanian autoritate morală
  • autoritate moralăquality or characteristic of being respected for being moral
Cite this entry
APA

moral authority. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/moral%20authority

MLA

“moral authority.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/moral%20authority. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “moral authority,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/moral%20authority.

Source: moral authority on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.