qualm
Americannoun
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an uneasy feeling or pang of conscience as to conduct; compunction.
He has no qualms about lying.
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a sudden feeling of apprehensive uneasiness; misgiving.
a sudden qualm about the success of the venture.
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a sudden sensation or onset of faintness or illness, especially of nausea.
noun
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a sudden feeling of sickness or nausea
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a pang or sudden feeling of doubt, esp concerning moral conduct; scruple
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a sudden sensation of misgiving or unease
Other Word Forms
- qualmish adjective
- qualmishly adverb
- qualmishness noun
Etymology
Origin of qualm
First recorded in 1520–30; origin uncertain
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.
Did Youmans himself have any qualms about coming to Berlin, given the controversy around the festival?
From Barron's
Defense attorney Harpootlian said the nature of the justices’ questions indicated real qualms about the integrity of the trial.
For OpenAI and Anthropic, however, two of the companies at the very forefront of AI’s development and adoption, there are no qualms and they are accelerating investment into their businesses.
From MarketWatch
Lady Macbeth has no such qualms when she’s summoning evil spirits to unsex her in “Macbeth.”
From Los Angeles Times
He continued to ponder the state of schooling, expressing qualms about reducing education to numbers on standardized tests.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
