amoral vs. immoral : Commonly confused words | Vocabulary.com
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Commonly Confused Words
amoral/
immoral
Both have to do with right and wrong, but amoral means having no sense of either, like a fish, but the evil immoral describes someone who knows the difference, doesn't care, and says "mwah ha ha" while twirling a mustache.
If you are amoral, you're not a jerk, you just don't know that what you're doing is wrong. In the 1800s, Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (among other treasures), coined the word amoral to differentiate from immoral. Amoral is generally more descriptive, rather than judgmental:
In an age enamored of machines, life becomes amoral, without moral bearings, devoid of moral categories. (Edith Sizoo)
Amoral nature committed the crime "the man" could not. (Eye for Film)
Immoral is having no morality, being wicked or evil. If you are immoral, you know what society considers right and wrong, yet you do wrong anyway. It's a judgment, no doubt:
The bankers who took millions while destroying people's savings: greedy, selfish, and immoral. (Business Week)
At best, it is in bad taste and worse, flatly immoral. (Scientific American)
If you call someone immoral, you are saying that person knows better. If you call him amoral, you are saying that person does wrong but doesn't understand that it is wrong. It can be a fine line, other times it's clear: If a giant wave turns your boat over, that wave isn't being mean, it's amoral. If another boat rams into you and does the same thing, that is an immoral act, especially if the immoral captain laughs instead of helping you out of the water.
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Definition:
amoral
When a person is amoral, they couldn't care less if something is right or wrong. An amoral CEO fires employees so he can make more money, unconcerned about how losing their jobs might affect them. Continue reading...
Definition:
immoral
Use the adjective immoral to describe a person, group, or situation that intentionally goes against accepted ideas of what is right, like a government that attacks its own people, or a friend who steals your favorite spatula. Continue reading...
More Commonly Confused Words
abhorrent / aberrant
accept / except
ado / adieu
adopt / adapt
adverse / averse
affect / effect
afflict / inflict
aggravate / irritate
allot / a lot
allowed / aloud
allude / elude
allusion / illusion / delusion
alter / altar
alternate / alternative
ambiguous / ambivalent
amicable / amiable
amoral / immoral
amuse / bemuse
anecdote / antidote
appraise / apprise
ascent / assent
assume / presume
assure / ensure / insure
aural / oral / verbal
aver / avow
bail / bale
bare / bear
base / bass
bazaar / bizarre
border / boarder
brake / break
breach / breech
bridal / bridle
broach / brooch
callus / callous
cannon / canon
canvas / canvass
capital / capitol
censor / censure
cereal / serial
chord / cord
cite / site / sight
climactic / climatic
complement / compliment
complicit / complacent / complaisant
compose / comprise
conceptional / conceptual / contextual
concurrent / consecutive
confident / confidant(e)
connotation / denotation
connote / denote
conscious / conscience
contemptible / contemptuous
continual / continuous
correlation / corollary
council / counsel
currant / current
decent / descent / dissent
deer / dear
definitely / definitively
demur / demure
desert / dessert
didactic / pedantic
disassemble / dissemble
discomfit / discomfort
discreet / discrete
disillusion / dissolution
disinterested / uninterested
disperse / disburse
dual / duel
economic / economical
elicit / illicit
elusive / illusive
emigrate / immigrate / migrate
eminent / imminent / immanent
empathy / sympathy
endemic / epidemic
entitle / title
entomology / etymology
envelop / envelope
envy / jealousy
epidemic / pandemic
epigram / epigraph
epitaph / epithet
especially / specially
exalt / exult
exercise / exorcise
expedient / expeditious
extant / extent
facetious / factious / fatuous
factious / fractious
faint / feint
farther / further
fawn / faun
faze / phase
ferment / foment
fictional / fictitious / fictive
figuratively / literally
flair / flare
flaunt / flout
flounder / founder
font / fount
formerly / formally
formidable / formative
fortunate / fortuitous
gambit / gamut
gibe / jibe
gig / jig
gorilla / guerrilla
grisly / gristly / grizzly
hale / hail
healthful / healthy
hero / protagonist
hew / hue
historic / historical
hoard / horde
homonym / homophone / homograph
hone / home
hostile / hostel
imply / infer
incredible / incredulous
indeterminate / indeterminable
indict / indite
inflammable / inflammatory
ingenious / ingenuous
insidious / invidious
instant / instance
intense / intensive / intent
introvert / extrovert
irony / satire / sarcasm
it's / its
laudable / laudatory
lay / lie
legislature / legislator
levee / levy
loath / loathe
lone / loan
lose / loose
luxuriant / luxurious
main / mane
manner / manor
mantle / mantel
marital / martial
maximal / maximum
mean / median / average
medal / meddle / mettle
metaphor / simile
moral / morale
morbid / moribund
muscle / mussel
nauseated / nauseous
naval / navel
objective / subjective
optimistic / pessimistic
overdue / overdo
palate / palette / pallet
palmed off / pawned off
paradox / oxymoron
parameter / perimeter
parody / parity
peak / peek / pique
peddle / pedal / petal
persecute / prosecute
personal / personnel
pitiable / pitiful / piteous / pitiless
plain / plane
pore / pour
practical / practicable
pragmatic / dogmatic
precede / proceed
precedent / president
predominate / predominant
premier / premiere
prescribe / proscribe
pretentious / portentous
principal / principle
prophecy / prophesy
prophet / profit
prostate / prostrate
quote / quotation
rebut / refute
regrettably / regretfully
reluctant / reticent
respectfully / respectively
sac / sack
scrimp / skimp
sensor / censor / censer
sensual / sensuous
simple / simplistic
slight / sleight
stationary / stationery
statue / statute
steal / steel
than / then
that / which
their / there / they're
tortuous / torturous
troop / troupe
turbid / turgid
unconscionable / unconscious
undo / undue
unexceptional / unexceptionable
vain / vein / vane
venal / venial
veracious / voracious
wave / waive
weather / whether / wether
who / whom
who's / whose
wreck / wreak / reek
your / you're
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