Held by inappropriate ethics; they are in the mouth (5)
I believe the answer is:
teeth
'are in the mouth' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form, I cannot see how one could define the other.
'held by inappropriate ethics they' is the wordplay.
'held by' indicates a hidden word.
'TEETH' can be found hidden inside 'inappropriate ethics they'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for teeth that I've seen before include "Those of wisdom" , "Canines, molars, etc" , "enforcement mechanisms" , "Being in your face" , "rarely a hen's" .)