English
webster
Etymology
L. scrupulus a small sharp or pointed stone, the twenty-fourth part of an ounce, a scruple, uneasiness, doubt, diminutive of scrupus a rough or sharp stone, anxiety, uneasiness; perhaps akin to Gr. the chippings of stone, a razor, Skr. kshura: confer F. scrupule.
Noun
scruple (plural: scruples)
- A weight of twenty grains; the third part of a dram.
- Hence, a very small quantity; a particle.
#:I will not bate thee a scruple. Shak.
- Hesitation as to action from the difficulty of determining what is right or expedient; unwillingness, doubt, or hesitation proceeding from motives of conscience; to consider if something is ethical.
#:He was made miserable by the conflict between his tastes and his scruples. -Macaulay.
Verb
en-verb|scrupl|ing
- intransitive To be reluctant or to hesitate, as regards an action, on account of considerations of conscience or expedience.
#:We are often over-precise, scrupling to say or do those things which lawfully we may. -Fuller.
#:Men scruple at the lawfulness of a set form of divine worship. -South.
- To regard with suspicion; to hesitate at; to question.
#:Others long before them ... scrupled more the books of hereties than of gentiles. -Milton.
- To excite scruples in; to cause to scruple.
#:Letters which did still scruple many of them. -E. Symmons.
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