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qualm definition

qualm (kwäm)

noun

  1. a sudden, brief feeling of sickness, faintness, or nausea
  2. a sudden feeling of uneasiness or doubt; misgiving
  3. a twinge of conscience; scruple

Etymology: ME qualme < OE cwealm, death, disaster (akin to Ger qual, pain, Swed kvalm, nausea) < base of cwellan, to kill (see quell): all extant senses show melioration of the orig. meaning

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

qualm Synonyms

qualm

n.

  1. Doubt

    scruple, misgiving, doubt, compunction, reservation, uneasiness, apprehension, hesitation, hesitancy, indecision, pang, twinge, twinge of conscience, equivocalness, second thought, funny feeling*; see also doubt 2.

  2. Nausea

    faintness, dizziness, queasiness; see illness 1.

qualm implies a painful feeling of uneasiness arising from a consciousness that one is or may be acting wrongly I had qualms about leaving the children alone in the house; scruple implies doubt or hesitation arising from difficulty in deciding what is right, proper, just, etc. to break a promise without scruple; compunction implies a twinge of conscience for wrongdoing, now often for a slight offense to have no compunctions about telling a white lie; misgiving implies a disturbed state of mind resulting from a loss of confidence as to whether one is doing what is right misgivings of conscience


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

qualm Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • conscience: He experiences no troubles, no problems, no qualms of conscience.

Preposition: about

  • anything: It's quite a laid back group and we have no qualms about reading anything.

Converse of object

  • have: I have never had any qualms over leaving any of my children in their care, even at only 16 weeks old!

Adjective modifier

  • moral: Having the belly to overcome any moral qualms about killing innocent people.

Modifies a noun

  • fear: The Turkish Tourist Board in the UK is also keen to qualm fears.
qualm usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

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"qualm." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 5 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/qualm>

APA Style

qualm. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 5th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/qualm

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