compunctious
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of compunctious
First recorded in 1595–1605; compunct(ion) + -ious
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He sat and looked at her for some moments with an expression partly complacent and partly compunctious.
From Strangers at Lisconnel by Barlow, Jane
My daughter! my daughter!" followed by the compunctious "God!
From Pierre; or The Ambiguities by Melville, Herman
What hindered him from immediately acting upon it was a compunctious forecast of the concern which would prevail in his family, if he absented himself contrary to expectation.
From Strangers at Lisconnel by Barlow, Jane
She must have gone indoors, they concluded, and Esther began to feel very compunctious for having left her alone so long.
From The Carroll Girls by Quiller-Couch, Mabel
The wife felt compunctious visitings, and so the husband might say his say without loss of dignity.
From The Maid of Honour (Vol. 3 of 3) A Tale of the Dark Days of France by Wingfield, Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
