scruple

Meaning

Noun

1. Hesitation to act from the difficulty of determining what is right or expedient; doubt, hesitation or unwillingness due to motives of conscience; moral qualm.
2. A weight of ¹⁄₂₈₈ of a pound, that is, twenty grains or one third of a dram, about 1.3 grams (symbol: ℈).
3. A Hebrew unit of time equal to ¹⁄₁₀₈₀ hour.
4. (broadly, obsolete) A very small quantity; a particle.
5. (obsolete) A doubt or uncertainty concerning a matter of fact; intellectual perplexity.

Verb

1. (intransitive) To hesitate or be reluctant to act due to considerations of conscience or expedience.
2. (intransitive) To excite scruples in; to cause to scruple.
3. (transitive) To regard with suspicion; to question.
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To question the truth of (a fact, etc.); to doubt; to hesitate to believe, to question.

Synonyms

qualm

hesitation

misgiving

compunction

demur

hesitate

doubt

indecision

mistrust

qualms

rap

remorse

repentance

restriction

scrupulosity

scrupulousness

stickle

straddle

vacillate

waver

be scrupulous

be irresolute

inhibition

sc.

boggle

to have scruples

diffidence

dither

dubiety

hesitance

hesitancy

hover

iota

Translations

scrupule

escrúpulo

Skrupel

escrúpulo

scrupolo

scrupule

escrúpol

scrupulus

gewetensbezwaar

δισταγμός

scupolo

gemoedsbezwaar

avere scupolo

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈskɹuːpəl/

Etymology

From Old French scrupule, from Latin scrūpulus (“(literally) a small sharp or pointed stone; the twenty-fourth part of an ounce; uneasiness of mind, anxiety, doubt, trouble; scruple”), diminutive of scrūpus (“a rough or sharp stone; anxiety, uneasiness”); perhaps akin to Ancient Greek σκύρος (skúros, “the chippings of stone”), from ξυρόν (xurón, “razor”), from ξύω (xúō, “to scrape”), from Proto-Indo-European *ksunyo-. Doublet of escropulo and escrupulo.