scruple
[skroo-puhl]
- a moral or ethical consideration or standard that acts as a restraining force or inhibits certain actions.
- a very small portion or amount.
- a unit of weight equal to 20 grains (1.295 grams) or 1/3 of a dram, apothecaries' weight.
- an ancient Roman unit of weight equivalent to 1/24 of an ounce or 1/288 of an as or pound.Compare as2(def 2).
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- to have scruples.
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- to have scruples about; hesitate at.
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Origin of scruple
1350–1400; (< French scrupule) < Latin scrūpulus unit of weight, worry, precaution equivalent to scrūp(us) rough pebble + -ulus -ule; replacing earlier scriple, Middle English < Latin scrīpulum (variant scriptulum) small weight, pebble, alteration of scrūpulus by association with scrīptum writing (see script; for sense relation cf. gram1)
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
consciencecompunctionanxietyhesitationreluctancecensortwingedifficultydemurpauseuneasinessqualmperplexitycautionhesitancysuperegoreconsiderationfalteringhesitatevacillateExamples from the Web for scruples
Contemporary Examples
Mengele has neither doubts about his hideous purpose or scruples about his heinous past.
Had it been anybody but Tessie I should not have bothered my head about scruples.
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the ShowRobert W. Chambers
February 20, 2014
Historical Examples
"It was Captain Haley that tied me here," said Robert, his scruples removed.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
All your scruples, you see, have met with an indulgence truly maternal from me.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
You see, my dear, he scruples not to speak of himself, as his enemies speak of him.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
I'm afraid my scruples vanished when I got him before my easel.
The Greater InclinationEdith Wharton
But he was now becoming uneasy, scruples were tingeing his reverie with anxiety.
The Three Cities Trilogy, CompleteEmile Zola
scruple
- (often plural) a doubt or hesitation as to what is morally right in a certain situation
- archaic a very small amount
- a unit of weight equal to 20 grains (1.296 grams)
- an ancient Roman unit of weight equivalent to approximately one twenty-fourth of an ounce
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- (obsolete when tr) to have doubts (about), esp for a moral reason
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Word Origin
C16: from Latin scrūpulus a small weight, from scrūpus rough stone
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 scruples
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.
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scruple
v.
"to have or make scruples," 1620s, from scruple (n.). Related: Scrupled; scrupling.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
scruple
(skrōō′pəl)- An uneasy feeling arising from conscience or principle that tends to hinder action.
- A unit of apothecary weight that is equal to about 1.3 grams, or 20 grains.
- A minute part or amount.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.