sense of right and wrong
7
3.8
- noun
:
sentido del bien y del mal
- Is that gonna satisfy your sense of right and wrong?
- a strong sense of right and wrong
- teach a sense of right and wrong
I guess I've just got quite a strong sense of right and wrong.
- I guess I've just got quite a strong sense of right and wrong.
- So our sense of right and wrong, what does that mean compared to a squirrel's sense of right and wrong?
- This is how people get their sense of right and wrong and good or bad and better and worse, which is almost more important than just, you know, sheer good and bad, right?
- So if you don't have a sense of right and wrong then you are more likely just to act out of a complete and utter self-interest rather than the good of the group.
- I guess a sense of right and wrong or good, good and evil.
- Now, I had enough of a sense of right and wrong and a sense of who I was in the world that when I I'll give you one example.
Examples
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Conscience refers to a sense of right and wrong.
Academic text (2010) -
We would like our graduates to acquire a strong sense of right and wrong.
Academic text (2003) -
I have a very strong sense of right and wrong.
Blog text (18) -
I'm a man with a real strong sense of right and wrong.
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It's that sense of right and wrong that guides his law practice.
Academic text (2001) -
I've lost my sense of right and wrong.
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They were, you know, conservative bible folk... ... but they had a powerful sense of right and wrong.
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We weren't exactly an enlightened group, but we did have our own sense of right and wrong.
Blog text (4) -
I guess I've just got quite a strong sense of right and wrong, perhaps an overdeveloped conscience.
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My mother raised us with a strong sense of right and wrong.
Synonyms
632
4.6
An inner feeling that tells you what is right or wrong and makes you feel guilty
4
4.6
A feeling that helps you know right from wrong and do the right thing
1
2.3
Ideas about what is right and wrong that guide how people behave
How Moral
Surface Forms
Morphology
sense + of + right + and + wrong
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'sense' (awareness or capacity for judgment) with 'of right and wrong' (the moral categories). This is a regular, compositional noun + of + noun-phrase pattern that is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily understand the expression.
Etymology
Sense of right and wrong uses sense to mean a small inner feeling that notices right and wrong. Imagine an inner voice or a little scale that tells you when something is fair or not, and that's why the phrase means 'an awareness that guides your actions'.