qualm

[ kwahm, kwawm ]

/ kwɑm, kwɔm /

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.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of qualm

First recorded in 1520–30; origin uncertain

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

Examples from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
Yet I admit to feeling a qualm when I hear this phrase, "moral defense."
A Desperate Defense of Capitalism|David Frum|May 2, 2012|DAILY BEAST
He can look into my dead eyes and threaten this—without a quiver—without a qualm!
The Ghetto|Herman Heijermans
At any rate he was able to produce this sentence without a qualm.
The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

Qualm and pang came upon him as part of the situation, almost as his deserts.
Denis Dent|Ernest W. Hornung
As for such weakness as a qualm of conscience, Pignaver was as far above such childishness as the Bravi themselves.
Stradella|F(rancis) Marion Crawford
"I didn't suppose I was quite so poor an impostor," I said apologetically, with a qualm at the word.
Blindfolded|Earle Ashley Walcott

British Dictionary definitions for qualm

qualm

/ (kwɑːm) /

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

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.