From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishstandardsstandards[plural] moral principles about what kind of behaviour or attitudes are acceptable the recent decline in moral standardsstandards fall/slip/go down Standards have slipped since I was a boy. → standard
Examples from the Corpus
moral standards• The central concern for all these groups is with what they perceive to be declining moral standards.• There is no requirement that harm be sustained before the law may intervene to lay down moral standards.• Religions frequently fail to live up to their high moral standards.• High moral standards and all that.• He feared that in the absence of moral standards, workers could be abused and exploited.• He has dumped several party members for violating his personal moral standards.• By the moral standards of some of the bargainers the claims of some of the others may be immoral.• The need to survive, which always dictates the moral standards of society, once more underlined the role of the women. 