morality play

noun

1

: an allegorical play popular especially in the 15th and 16th centuries in which the characters personify abstract qualities or concepts (such as virtues, vices, or death)

2

: something (such as a court trial) which involves a direct conflict between right and wrong or good and evil and from which a moral lesson may be drawn

Examples of morality play in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Playground By Richard Powers Playground seems on the surface to belong in the first group—the flat-character morality plays that have come to define Powers’s later career. —Randy Boyagoda, The Atlantic, 17 Oct. 2024

The most celebrated Spanish novelists and directors of the Franco era offered accounts of people’s lives that avoided simple morality plays and partisan games. —Victor Pérez-Díaz, Foreign Affairs, 6 Dec. 2013

Since then, all sorts of filmmakers have splashed drama and morality plays on the wide-open canvas of the Western, with varying degrees of success. —and Kevin Jacobsen, EW.com, 21 June 2024

Basie watch the scene, made no move to stop it, and in fact quite evidently enjoyed the morality play. —Larry Tye, TIME, 9 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1866, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

morality play

noun

: a type of play popular especially in the 15th and 16th centuries in which the characters stand for moral qualities (as virtue or vice) or conditions (as death)