Moral victory

Moral victory

A moral victory occurs when a person, team, army or other group loses a confrontation, and yet achieves some other moral gain. This gain might be unrelated to the confrontation in question, and the gain is often considerably less than what would have been accomplished if an actual victory had been achieved.

For example, a sports team that loses fairly to a cheating team might claim a moral victory in spite of the loss. Another, less straightforward situation in which a moral victory could be claimed is if a team which is yet to win a game, and which has been blown out every game so far, loses by a narrow margin, or perhaps in an overtime of sorts, to a team which is either undefeated, or generally considered far superior.

For a real life example consider the Detroit Lions of the National Football League. Despite not having won a game in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the home of one of their rivals the Green Bay Packers, since 1991, they lost a game on October 3, 2010 by only 2 points. They also had 170 more total yards than the Packers. Some might call this a moral victory while others would say it is just the continuation of the team's futility.

Another moral victory can see seen in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible the character John Proctor was executed but his children received his land

Others may include scenarios in which a force loses a struggle, but inflicts great losses upon their opponents. Examples include The Alamo and the 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae.

References

Further reading



Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • moral victory — noun count if you win a moral victory you feel you have shown you were right about something, even though someone else has officially won the argument: The decision to impose a mild sentence was seen as a moral victory …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • moral victory — ► NOUN ▪ a defeat that can be interpreted as a victory in moral terms …   English terms dictionary

  • moral victory — noun : an actual defeat regarded as a virtual victory because of the narrowness of the margin or because of some circumstance that gives satisfaction or hope * * * moral victory ◇ If you achieve a moral victory you do not win anything but you… …   Useful english dictionary

  • moral victory — UK / US noun [countable] Word forms moral victory : singular moral victory plural moral victories if you win a moral victory, you feel that you have shown you were right about something, even though someone else has officially won the argument… …   English dictionary

  • moral victory — victory of ethics, win caused by ethics …   English contemporary dictionary

  • moral victory — noun a defeat that can be interpreted as a victory in terms of morals or principles …   English new terms dictionary

  • moral — [môr′əl, mär′əl; ] for n.4 [, mə ral′] adj. [ME < L moralis, of manners or customs < mos (gen. moris), pl. mores, manners, morals (see MOOD1): used by CICERO2 as transl. of Gr ēthikos] 1. relating to, dealing with, or capable of making the… …   English World dictionary

  • moral — mor|al1 W2S3 [ˈmɔrəl US ˈmo: ] adj [Date: 1300 1400; : Latin; Origin: moralis, from mos what people usually or traditionally do ] 1.) [only before noun] relating to the principles of what is right and wrong behaviour, and with the difference… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • moral — 1 adjective 1 ABOUT RIGHT AND WRONG (only before noun) connected with the principles of what is right and wrong behaviour, and with the difference between good and evil: a man of high moral standards | You don t know the circumstances of the… …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • moral — [[t]mɒ̱r(ə)l, AM mɔ͟ːr [/t]] ♦♦♦ morals 1) N PLURAL Morals are principles and beliefs concerning right and wrong behaviour. ...Western ideas and morals... They have no morals. Syn: ethics 2) ADJ: ADJ n Moral means relating to beliefs about what… …   English dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”