morality play

(redirected from Morality plays)
Also found in: Thesaurus, Encyclopedia.
Related to Morality plays: Miracle Plays

morality play

n.
1. A drama in the 1400s and 1500s using allegorical characters to portray the soul's struggle to achieve salvation.
2. Something viewed as exhibiting a struggle between good and evil and offering a moral lesson.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

morality play

n
(Theatre) a type of drama written between the 14th and 16th centuries concerned with the conflict between personified virtues and vices
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

moral′ity play`


n.
an allegorical drama of the 15th and 16th centuries in which personified virtues, vices, and other abstractions are characters. Compare miracle play, mystery play.
[1925–30]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

morality play

A medieval allegorical drama examining how ordinary people deal with temptation.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun 1. morality play - an allegorical play popular in the 15th and 16th centuries; characters personified virtues and vices
drama, dramatic play, play - a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage; "he wrote several plays but only one was produced on Broadway"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

morality play

n → Moralität f
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

morality play

n (Theatre) → moralità f inv
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in periodicals archive ?
Scholars of law and philosophy explore the role reason plays in determining what is morally right, and the role morality plays in law.
Ethical Rationalism and the Law
Morality plays were public interventions, not conundrums to be chewed over, and Norris has taken the theatrical spirit of the original form, all masks and masquerades, and given it a contemporary spin.
Everyman
Colorful, animated anthropomorphic characters act out simple morality plays. Paws & Tales: Following God (9781414341170, 9ドル.99, 50 min.) has the episodes "Snake Oil", in which C.J.
Chuck Swindoll's Paws & Tales series
Morality plays were supposed to show not only the fall but also the regeneration of the central character, Mankind (Russell 230).
"The shadow of this crime ... is over me yet": narrative discourse and the knowledge of evil in Barry Unsworth's Morality Play
Writing during the Renaissance, when morality plays prevailed, Molina wanted the great seducer to stand as "a cautionary example of the vicious and debased state to which unrestrained appetite reduces a soul," Hart writes.
The demise of Don Juan
The series devoted to making Middle English texts available and affordable to modern students here presents one of the five scripts for morality plays that survive from the late 14th to the early 16th centuries.
The castle of perseverance
Budding actors hoping to take on the role of Jesus Christ in a new cycle of medieval morality plays performed a series of tests to prove they were the best man for the job.
TAKING AN EASTER STROLL...ON WATER
When Madge was seen flaunting her relationship with Luz in a recent racy W Magazine spread it did not sit well with the officials, and Simon Chisale, Malawi's child welfare chief, said morality plays a big part in the adoption process.
Madge's 'fling with Jesus Luz, hookup with A-Rod may doom her adoption plans'
In his essay on "Gay Sex in the 70's" [March-April 2006], Jim Downs also makes an important point about how we interpret events as "morality plays," filtering our experiences as we render them into history.
"The 70's" earned its mixed reputation
Four new morality plays have also been created by local schoolchildren for this year's event.
Event's streets ahead for fun
Third, secular Jewish individuals across Europe and North America, including Canada, continue to be the lead agitators for the removal of Christian symbols, and the undermining and removal of Christian principles in law, politics, and almost every other area where morality plays a role.
Mel Gibson (news in brief, June 2005, p.30)

Full browser ?