Scruple Definition

skro͝opəl
scrupled, scruples, scrupling
noun
scruples
An uneasy feeling arising from conscience or principle that tends to hinder action.
American Heritage
A very small quantity, amount, or part.
Webster's New World
An ancient Roman unit of weight equal to124 ounce.
Webster's New World
A unit of weight equal to13 dram apothecaries' weight or 20 grains (1.296 grams): abbrev. sc.
Webster's New World
A feeling of hesitancy, doubt, or uneasiness arising from difficulty in deciding what is right, proper, ethical, etc.; qualm or misgiving about something one thinks is wrong.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
verb
scrupled, scruples, scrupling
To hesitate (at) from doubt or uneasiness; be unwilling because of one's conscience; have scruples (about)
Webster's New World
To hesitate as a result of conscience or principle.
American Heritage
To excite scruples in; to cause to scruple.
Letters which did still scruple many of them. -E. Symmons.
Wiktionary
Synonyms:
Antonyms:

Other Word Forms of Scruple

Noun

Singular:
scruple
Plural:
scruples

Origin of Scruple

  • From Latin scrÅ«pulus (“uneasiness of mind, trouble, anxiety, doubt, scruple, literally a small sharp or pointed stone, the twenty-fourth part of an ounce"), diminutive of scrÅ«pus (“a rough or sharp stone, anxiety, uneasiness"); perhaps akin to Ancient Greek σκύρος (skuros, “the chippings of stone"), ξυρόν (ksuron, “a razor"), Sanskrit क्षुर (ká¹£ura, “a razor"): compare French scrupule.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English scrupul from Old French scrupule from Latin scrūpulus small unit of measurement, scruple diminutive of scrūpus rough stone, scruple

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Scruple Sentence Examples

  • Where he detects or suspects the insertion of fabulous matter he has no scruple in saying so.

  • The civil war that followed his death, the endless revolutions of Agrigentum, where the weaker side did not scruple to call in Christian help, hindered any real Saracen occupation of eastern Sicily.

  • I do not scruple to say that she plays extremely well.

  • Slaves did the greater part of the purchasing, though even the noblest citizens of Athens did not scruple to buy and sell there.

  • He did not scruple to reveal to the king of Navarre secret deliberations, but his fortune soon turned.

More Sentences

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to scruple using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

SSCSCR

Words Ending With

ELEPLE

Unscrambles

scruple

Words Starting With S and Ending With E

Starts With S & Ends With EStarts With SC & Ends With EStarts With S & Ends With LE

Word Length

7 Letter Words7 Letter Words Starting With S7 Letter Words Ending With E