scruple

[skroo-puhl]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR scruple ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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).

verb (used without object), scru·pled, scru·pling.

to have scruples.

verb (used with object), scru·pled, scru·pling.

to have scruples about; hesitate at.

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)

Related formsscru·ple·less, adjectiveo·ver·scru·ple, verb, o·ver·scru·pled, o·ver·scru·pling.un·scru·pled, adjective

Synonyms for scruple

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR scruple ON THESAURUS.COM

1. qualm, compunction, restraint. 6. waver.

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

Related Words for scruples

conscience, compunction, anxiety, hesitation, reluctance, censor, twinge, difficulty, demur, pause, uneasiness, qualm, perplexity, caution, hesitancy, superego, reconsideration, faltering, hesitate, vacillate

Examples from the Web for scruples

Contemporary Examples of scruples

Mengele has neither doubts about his hideous purpose or scruples about his heinous past.
Holocaust Horrors Haunt the Films ‘Ida’ And ‘The German Doctor’
Jack Schwartz
May 12, 2014
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 Show
Robert W. Chambers
February 20, 2014

Historical Examples of scruples

"It was Captain Haley that tied me here," said Robert, his scruples removed.
Brave and Bold
Horatio 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 Inclination
Edith Wharton
But he was now becoming uneasy, scruples were tingeing his reverie with anxiety.
The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete
Emile Zola

British Dictionary definitions for scruples

scruple

noun

(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

verb

(obsolete when tr) to have doubts (about), esp for a moral reason

Derived Formsscrupleless, adjective

Word Origin for scruple

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

"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.

scruple

"to have or make scruples," 1620s, from scruple (n.). Related: Scrupled; scrupling.

scruples in Medicine

scruple

[skrōō′pəl]

n.

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.