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
Basie watch the scene, made no move to stop it, and in fact quite evidently enjoyed the morality play.
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Larry Tye, TIME, 9 May 2024
They are also all transformed into morality plays of sorts—although, unlike in the Massachusetts Bay Colony of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the morals in Trump’s America are inscrutable.
—Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2024
It might, simultaneously, be cast as a parable about mutual benefit not being the same as love, a morality play about the distorting influence of money, and a sporting case study in the limited functionality of stardust as a building material.
—Rory Smith, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2024
His plays toy with form — the morality play, the workplace comedy, the domestic drama — to explore the United States’ posture in relation to the past and its influence on how Americans metabolize the present.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Dec. 2023
See all Example Sentences for morality play 
Larry Tye, TIME, 9 May 2024
They are also all transformed into morality plays of sorts—although, unlike in the Massachusetts Bay Colony of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the morals in Trump’s America are inscrutable.
—Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2024
It might, simultaneously, be cast as a parable about mutual benefit not being the same as love, a morality play about the distorting influence of money, and a sporting case study in the limited functionality of stardust as a building material.
—Rory Smith, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2024
His plays toy with form — the morality play, the workplace comedy, the domestic drama — to explore the United States’ posture in relation to the past and its influence on how Americans metabolize the present.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Dec. 2023
See all Example Sentences for morality play
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'morality play.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Morality play.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/morality%20play. Accessed 4 Jul. 2024.
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