moralize

/ˌmɔrəˈlaɪz/

Other forms: moralizing; moralized; moralizes

When you moralize, you lecture someone about right and wrong, judging their decisions and actions. It’s just plain wrong for people to moralize! Oops.

If you know someone who complains about "kids today" and pontificates about how things were in the past, adding an opinion of the proper way to act, you're familiar with the verb moralize. At the heart of moralize is moral, from the Latin root moralis, "proper behavior of a person in society," and someone who moralizes simply wants to share their own idea of what's moral — unfortunately, they tend to do it in an overly superior way.

Definitions of moralize

1. verb

   speak as if delivering a sermon; express moral judgments
   synonyms: moralise, preachify, sermonise, sermonize

   type of:

   advocate, preach

   speak, plead, or argue in favor of
2. verb

   interpret the moral meaning of
   “moralize a story”

   synonyms: moralise

   type of:

   interpret, rede

   give an interpretation or explanation to
3. verb

   improve the morals of
   synonyms: moralise

   type of:

   reclaim, rectify, reform, regenerate

   bring, lead, or force to abandon a wrong or evil course of life, conduct, and adopt a right one