moral victory

noun

: the achievement of something that is important and good

Although they lost, the minority claimed the vote as a moral victory since they had won the support of so many former opponents.

Examples of moral victory in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Catalan separatists were able to claim a moral victory after the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy moved to deploy the police to prevent people from voting in Barcelona and other Catalan cities. —Omar G. Encarnación, Foreign Affairs, 15 Dec. 2023

Not Ready to Make Nice The Dixie Chicks, 2007 More of a moral victory than a creative one. —Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times, 31 Jan. 2025

That moral battle, that moral victory, is maybe even more obvious than the political victory. —Rachel Handler, Vulture, 20 June 2024

The win amounts to a moral victory for Trump’s only remaining rival in the GOP race. —Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 23 Jan. 2024

He is poised to declare a moral victory for Russia and to take the credit if Obama backs away from intervention. —Fiona Hill, Foreign Affairs, 11 Sep. 2013

That’s just a moral victory for a franchise that no longer tolerates them. —Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 16 Apr. 2024

The underdogs in those games went just 2-6 straight up, but 5-3 against the spread (not that any fan base is taking a moral victory from covering the spread this late in the season). —Andrew Birkle, Detroit Free Press, 25 Jan. 2024

That was a moral victory because a costly mistake on an element in the short program a year ago had left her in 11th place, giving her a steep climb to her eventual fifth-place finish. —Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times, 12 Feb. 2024

Rhymes for moral victory

• contradictory
• valedictory