scruple

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Latin scrupulus (“‘uneasiness of mind, trouble, anxiety, doubt, scruple, literally a small sharp or pointed stone, the twenty-fourth part of an ounce’”), diminutive of scrupus (“‘a rough or sharp stone, anxiety, uneasiness’”); perhaps akin to Ancient Greek σκύρος (skyros), “‘the chippings of stone’”), ξυρόν (ksuron), “‘a razor’”), Sanskrit kshura (“‘a razor’”): compare French scrupule.

[edit] Pronunciation

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[edit] Noun

scruple (plural scruples)

1. A weight of twenty grains; the third part of a dram.
2. Hence, a very small quantity; a particle.

   I will not bate thee a scruple. Shak.

3. 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. - Thomas Babington Macaulay.

[edit] Verb

to scruple (third-person singular simple present scruples, present participle scrupling, simple past and past participle scrupled)

1. (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. - Thomas Fuller.

   Men scruple at the lawfulness of a set form of divine worship. - Robert South.

2. To regard with suspicion; to hesitate at; to question.

   Others long before them ... scrupled more the books of hereties than of gentiles. - John Milton.

3. To excite scruples in; to cause to scruple.

   Letters which did still scruple many of them. -E. Symmons.

[edit] Translations

[edit] External links

• scruple in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• scruple in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911