Meaning & use
bioethics
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
The study of moral questions that arise from advances in biology, medicine, and healthcare.
Grammar: Uncountable; takes a singular verb: Bioethics is a growing field.
Patterns
- in bioethics
She is a professor of bioethics at the university.
The hospital has a bioethics committee that reviews difficult cases.
Bioethics often deals with questions about genetic testing and end-of-life care.
Common combinations
- bioethics committee
- The bioethics committee met to discuss the new gene-editing trial.
- principles of bioethics
- Autonomy and justice are key principles of bioethics.
- field of bioethics
- She has worked in the field of bioethics for over a decade.
- bioethics debate
- The bioethics debate over assisted dying continues in many countries.
Synonyms and how they differ
- medical ethics
- Narrower; focuses on moral issues in medical practice rather than the broader biological and technological scope of bioethics.
- healthcare ethics
- Similar but often used for ethical issues in clinical care and health policy, not research or biotechnology.
Word family
- bioethicist noun
- A person who studies or advises on bioethical issues.
- bioethical adjective
- Relating to bioethics.
Commonly confused: bioethics or ethics?
bioethics vs ethics
Ethics is the general study of right and wrong; bioethics is specifically about moral questions in biology, medicine, and healthcare.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'bioethics' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Bioethics is an uncountable noun meaning the study of moral issues in biology and medicine, so it fits as the subject of 'is'. The other options treat it as a verb or count noun, which is incorrect.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bioethics”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.