scruple

Definitions

1. 1.Hence, a very small quantity; a particle. I will not bate thee a scruple. Shak.
2. 2.Hesitation as to action from the difficulty of determining what is right or expedient; unwillingness, doubt, or hesitation proceeding from motives of conscience. He was made miserable by the conflict between his tastes and his scruples. Macaulay. To make scruple, to hesitate from conscientious motives; to scruple. Locke.
3. 3.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.
4. 4.To regard with suspicion; to hesitate at; to question. Others long before them . . . scrupled more the books of hereties than of gentiles. Milton.
5. 5.To excite scruples in; to cause to scruple. [R.] Letters which did still scruple many of them. E. Symmons.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "scruple" mean?
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Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is scruple.

• What is hence, a very small quantity; a particle. I will not bate thee a scruple. Shak called?
• What is to regard with suspicion; to hesitate at; to question. Others long before them . . . scrupled more the books of hereties than of gentiles. Milton called?
• What is to excite scruples in; to cause to scruple. [R.] Letters which did still scruple many of them. E. Symmons called?