Deontological

adj

adj ·6 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or relating to deontology.

    "Deontological theories hold that there are ethical propositions of the form: 'Such and such a kind of action would always be right (or wrong) in such and such circumstances, no matter what its consequences might be.'"

Example

More examples

"Deontological theories hold that there are ethical propositions of the form: 'Such and such a kind of action would always be right (or wrong) in such and such circumstances, no matter what its consequences might be.'"

Etymology

From deontology + -ical (1832). The specialised sense in normative ethics is due to C. D. Broad (1930).

Related phrases

non-deontological

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.