scruple
pronunciation
How to pronounce scruple in British English:
UK [ˈskruːpl]
How to pronounce scruple in American English:
US [ˈskruːpl]
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- Noun:
- a unit of apothecary weight equal to 20 grains
- uneasiness about the fitness of an action
- an ethical or moral principle that inhibits action
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- Verb:
- hesitate on moral grounds
- raise scruples
- have doubts about
Word Origin
- scruple
- scruple: [16] Latin scrūpus meant ‘sharp stone’, and the notion of something troubling the mind like a painful stone in the shoe led to its metaphorical use for ‘anxiety, doubt, particularly over a moral issue’. Both meanings were carried over into the diminutive form scrūpulus, which also came to be used for a very small unit of weight. This passed into English via French scrupule as scruple, on the way losing the literal sense ‘small stone’.
- scruple (v.)
- "to have or make scruples," 1620s, from scruple (n.). Related: Scrupled; scrupling.
- scruple (n.)
- "moral misgiving, pang of conscience," late 14c., from Old French scrupule (14c.), from Latin scrupulus "uneasiness, anxiety, pricking of conscience," literally "small sharp stone," diminutive of scrupus "sharp stone or pebble," used figuratively by Cicero for a cause of uneasiness or anxiety, probably from the notion of having a pebble in one's shoe. The word in the more literal Latin sense of "small unit of weight or measurement" is attested in English from late 14c.
Antonym
Example
- 1. The villain made no scruple of committing murder .
- 2. Not for any religious scruple : I am an atheist of the most straightforward kind .
- 3. I began to silent but these lonely in without scruple .
- 4. Beware , beware ! He 'll cheat without scruple , who can without fear .
- 5. He tells lies without scruple .