qualm

[kwahm, kwawm]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR qualm ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an uneasy feeling or pang of conscience as to conduct; compunction: He has no qualms about lying.

a sudden feeling of apprehensive uneasiness; misgiving: a sudden qualm about the success of the venture.

a sudden sensation or onset of faintness or illness, especially of nausea.

Origin of qualm

First recorded in 1520–30; origin uncertain

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for qualm

nervousness, anxiety, hesitation, apprehension, twinge, reluctance, unease, misgiving, objection, pang, remorse, disquiet, uneasiness, conscience, compunction, perturbation, regret, agitation, insecurity, uncertainty

Examples from the Web for qualm

Contemporary Examples of qualm

Loewen proved to have one qualm that showed he was not a total monster.
Terry Lee Loewen, the Mellow Kansas Man Who Dreamed of Jihad
Michael Daly
December 16, 2013
Yet I admit to feeling a qualm when I hear this phrase, "moral defense."
A Desperate Defense of Capitalism
David Frum
May 2, 2012

Historical Examples of qualm

He had put her aside without a qualm; and now he met her announcement with approval.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
I feel no qualm in saying that his exit was more hasty than his approach.
Adventures and Recollections
Bill o'th' Hoylus End
Yet I had no qualm of fear, no doubt, even, touching the issue.
Bardelys the Magnificent
Rafael Sabatini
Then I shall be able, without a qualm, to send Godfrey to the workhouse.
The Red Hand of Ulster
George A. Birmingham
Ma Tamby did not know what it is to have a qualm—which she could not have spelled if she had known.
The Paliser case
Edgar Saltus

British Dictionary definitions for qualm

qualm

noun

a sudden feeling of sickness or nausea

a pang or sudden feeling of doubt, esp concerning moral conduct; scruple

a sudden sensation of misgiving or unease

Derived Formsqualmish, adjectivequalmishly, adverbqualmishness, noun

Word Origin for qualm

Old English cwealm death or plague; related to Old High German qualm despair, Dutch kwalm smoke, stench

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for qualm

Old English cwealm (West Saxon) "death, murder, slaughter; disaster; plague; torment," utcualm (Anglian) "utter destruction," probably related to cwellan "to kill, murder, execute," cwelan "to die" (see quell). Sense softened to "feeling of faintness" 1520s; figurative meaning "uneasiness, doubt" is from 1550s; that of "scruple of conscience" is 1640s.

Evidence of a direct path from the Old English to the modern senses is wanting, but it is plausible, via the notion of "fit of sickness." The other suggested etymology, less satisfying, is to take the "fit of uneasiness" sense from Dutch kwalm "steam, vapor, mist" (cognate with German Qualm "smoke, vapor, stupor"), which also might be ultimately from the same Germanic root as quell.