Virtuous English AcademyCharacter & Integrity — B2 English Vocabulary
This B2 vocabulary list gathers 50 upper-intermediate English words about character & integrity — deeper traits, values and virtues. Every word comes with a simple definition, its British-English pronunciation and a natural example sentence, so you learn each one in real context. When you are ready, open the flashcards to practise and remember them for good.
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Using character & integrity words in English
Moral vocabulary contains one of the neatest traps in English: moral and morale differ by a single letter, are stressed on different syllables, and mean completely unrelated things. This page separates them, distinguishes humility from humiliation, and sets out how ethical and moral divide in practice.
What to watch out for
Moral and morale are not the same word
Moral is stressed on the first syllable and concerns right and wrong: a moral question, the moral of the story. Morale is stressed on the second — mor-AL — and means the confidence and spirit of a group: Morale in the department is low. Morale is uncountable and has no plural; morals in the plural means somebody’s personal principles.
Humility is a virtue; humiliation is an injury
Humility is the quality of not thinking yourself superior — a strength: He accepted the award with humility. Humiliation is the experience of being publicly shamed by someone else — an injury: the humiliation of being corrected in front of the class. They share a root and almost nothing else. The adjective humble belongs to the first; humiliating to the second.
Ethical is about codes; moral is about principles
In practice, ethics tends to describe agreed standards within a profession or a system — medical ethics, a code of ethics — while moral tends to describe personal or universal principles of right and wrong. The line is blurry and philosophers argue about it, but the collocations are firm: you would write research ethics and a moral dilemma, not the other way round.
Words learners mix up
Character vocabulary at B2 is about the words a reference, a court or an obituary would use. These clusters cover what makes somebody trustworthy, what it means to put others first, and the classical virtues with the vices they answer.
Five words for being able to trust somebody
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| integrity | Holding to your principles even when it costs you. Uncountable, and the strongest single word here. | She resigned rather than compromise her integrity. |
| principled | The adjective for acting from a settled moral rule rather than convenience. | A principled objection to the whole scheme. |
| dependable | Will actually do what they said. About reliability in practice, not about morality at all. | A dependable colleague who never missed a deadline. |
| accountable | Answerable for the outcome — obliged to explain and accept consequences. Takes to and for. | Ministers are accountable to Parliament. |
| authentic | Genuinely what they appear to be. About the absence of pretence rather than about good conduct. | An authentic voice that never sounded rehearsed. |
These are not degrees of one quality. Somebody can be entirely dependable and lack integrity; accountable is a structural relationship rather than a virtue, which is why organisations can be held accountable and cannot be said to have integrity in the same sense.
Putting other people first
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| selfless | Acting with no regard for your own interest. The strongest claim, and rare enough that it is usually reserved for real sacrifice. | Years of selfless care for her father. |
| compassionate | Feeling for another’s suffering and wanting to relieve it. About the response to pain specifically. | A compassionate hearing of the case. |
| considerate | Thinking about how your actions affect others in ordinary situations. Everyday and practical. | It was considerate of him to call ahead. |
| tactful | Saying the difficult thing without causing hurt. Purely about handling communication. | A tactful way of raising the problem. |
| tolerance | Accepting behaviour or views you disagree with. It presupposes disapproval — you do not tolerate what you like. | Religious tolerance was written into the charter. |
Tolerance is the one worth thinking about: because it implies you disapprove but permit anyway, some writers now prefer acceptance or respect when the point is that there was nothing to disapprove of in the first place.
The classical virtues and the vices they answer
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| humility | An accurate, modest view of your own importance. Its vice is arrogance — overestimating it. | He accepted the award with real humility. |
| courage | Acting rightly despite fear. Its vice is cowardice, which is failing to act because of it. | It took courage to give evidence. |
| generosity | Giving freely of money, time or credit. Its vice is greed, the desire for more than you need. | Her generosity to younger writers was well known. |
| kindness | Acting for another’s good. Its vice is cruelty, taking satisfaction in harm. | Small acts of kindness throughout the illness. |
| perseverance | Continuing despite difficulty. Its opposite is not a named vice but simply giving up. | Sheer perseverance got the bill through. |
English names the virtues as abstract nouns and the vices the same way, which makes them easy to pair and learn together. Note that modesty is close to humility but narrower — it concerns not boasting, whereas humility concerns what you actually believe about yourself.
Collocations that sound natural
These abstract nouns take a small and fixed set of verbs. References, court reports and eulogies reuse them almost word for word.
integrity
personal integrityprofessional integritya person of integrityquestion somebody’s integrity
Uncountable. Note the second, unrelated sense: structural integrity means something is physically sound.
dignity
with dignityhuman dignitybeneath your dignitypreserve somebody’s dignity
Uncountable, and the adverbial phrase is with dignity, never in dignity.
conscience
a clear consciencea guilty conscienceon your consciencea matter of conscience
On your conscience means troubling you because you did wrong. A conscience vote is one free from party instruction.
uphold
uphold standardsuphold the lawuphold a decisionuphold a complaint
Formal, and it means both to maintain and — in a legal context — to confirm on appeal, which is the opposite of overturn.
values
core valuesshared valuesinstil valuesfamily values
Plural in this sense. The singular value means worth or usefulness and behaves quite differently.
perseverance
sheer perseveranceperseverance paid offwith great perseverance
Uncountable. Note the spelling — no d, unlike the archaic persevere-adjacent forms learners sometimes invent.
Formal, neutral or informal?
Several of these words are quietly class-coded or carry a second sense that changes the compliment entirely. Two are approving in business writing and damning everywhere else.
- ruthlessContext flips itShowing no pity in pursuit of a goal. In business and sport writing it is often admiring — ruthless efficiency — while in any human context it is a serious criticism. The word itself does not change; the setting does.
- nobleTwo sensesOf high moral character — a noble gesture — and also belonging to the aristocracy by birth. The second is historical in most modern writing, but it is why nobility means both a quality and a class.
- respectableFaint praise · class-codedRegarded as socially acceptable and decent. It often damns with faintness — a respectable performance means adequate — and historically it carried strong assumptions about class and conformity.
- decentInformal · very BritishEnormously common in British speech for a good person or an acceptable standard: a decent bloke, a decent attempt. Warm and approving, but too casual for a formal citation.
- virtue / viceFormal · pairedThe formal abstract pair, at home in philosophy and older moral writing. Note the idiom by virtue of, meaning because of, which has nothing to do with goodness.
- hypocriteAccusationSomeone who claims moral standards they do not keep. Always an accusation, never self-applied, and the noun for the behaviour is hypocrisy. Note the spelling of the two differs: -crite, -crisy.
- impartialFormal · proceduralNot favouring either side. Used of judges, referees and processes rather than of feelings — the near-synonyms are unbiased and disinterested, the latter meaning having nothing to gain, not uninterested.
- honourBritish spelling · broadKeeps the -our, though the adjective drops it in honorary. It covers personal integrity, public recognition — an honour to be asked — and the verb meaning to fulfil an obligation: honour a contract.
Sentences to try
Four frames about character. Say each aloud and check where the stress falls.
- Morale improved as soon as the new manager arrived.
- She faced a genuine moral dilemma.
- He accepted the criticism with real humility.
- The company published a formal code of ethics.
Questions about character & integrity vocabulary
What is the difference between moral and morale?
They are unrelated. Moral, stressed on the first syllable, concerns right and wrong: a moral obligation, moral courage, and as a noun, the moral of the story. Morale, stressed on the second syllable, means the level of confidence and enthusiasm in a group: Morale collapsed after the redundancies. Morale is uncountable, while the plural morals refers to a person’s standards of behaviour. The spelling difference is one letter; the meaning difference is total.
What is the difference between humility and humiliation?
Humility is a positive quality: a realistic, modest view of your own importance, freely chosen. Humiliation is a negative experience: being made to feel ashamed or foolish, usually by someone else and usually in public. The corresponding adjectives keep the split — humble is a compliment, while humiliating and humiliated describe harm. Note also humble as a verb, which sits closer to the second meaning: the defeat humbled them.
Is "ethical" the same as "moral"?
They overlap heavily and in many sentences either will do, but the collocations differ. Ethics and ethical lean towards agreed codes of conduct within a profession or organisation: medical ethics, ethical approval, an ethics committee. Moral leans towards personal or universal principles of right and wrong: a moral duty, moral responsibility. Philosophers draw the line differently and some treat the words as synonyms, but following the standard collocations will keep your writing idiomatic.