Library / English Dictionary

SCRUPLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An ethical or moral principle that inhibits action

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("scruple" is a kind of...):

principle (a rule or standard especially of good behavior)

Derivation:

scruple (have doubts about)

scruple (raise scruples)

scruple (hesitate on moral grounds)

scrupulous (having scruples; arising from a sense of right and wrong; principled)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Uneasiness about the fitness of an action

Synonyms:

misgiving; qualm; scruple

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("scruple" is a kind of...):

anxiety (a vague unpleasant emotion that is experienced in anticipation of some (usually ill-defined) misfortune)

Derivation:

scruple (have doubts about)

scruple (raise scruples)

scruple (hesitate on moral grounds)

scrupulous (having scruples; arising from a sense of right and wrong; principled)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A unit of apothecary weight equal to 20 grains

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("scruple" is a kind of...):

apothecaries' unit; apothecaries' weight (any weight unit used in pharmacy; an ounce is equal to 480 grains and a pound is equal to 12 ounces)

Meronyms (parts of "scruple"):

grain (1/60 dram; equals an avoirdupois grain or 64.799 milligrams)

Holonyms ("scruple" is a part of...):

drachm; drachma; dram (a unit of apothecary weight equal to an eighth of an ounce or to 60 grains)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Have doubts about

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "scruple" is one way to...):

question; wonder (place in doubt or express doubtful speculation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

scruple (an ethical or moral principle that inhibits action)

scruple (uneasiness about the fitness of an action)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Raise scruples

Example:

He lied and did not even scruple about it

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "scruple" is one way to...):

fret; fuss; niggle (worry unnecessarily or excessively)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

scruple (an ethical or moral principle that inhibits action)

scruple (uneasiness about the fitness of an action)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Hesitate on moral grounds

Example:

The man scrupled to perjure himself

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "scruple" is one way to...):

hesitate; pause (interrupt temporarily an activity before continuing)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

scruple (an ethical or moral principle that inhibits action)

scruple (uneasiness about the fitness of an action)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Why then should he, a mere clerk, have scruples when so fair a chance lay in his way of carrying out the spirit as well as the letter of his father's provision.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Why, indeed; he does seem to have had some filial scruples on that head, as you will hear.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The non-SI unit of mass equal to 60 grains, 3 scruples, 1/8 troy ounce, or approximately 3.8879 grams.

(Apothecaries Dram Mass Unit, NCI Thesaurus)

Under ordinary circumstances, I should scruple to entreat the indulgence of Miss Trotwood and Miss Wickfield, but-

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Now you had better go; for if you stay longer, you will perhaps irritate me afresh by some mistrustful scruple.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A unit of volume in British Imperial system equal to 1/60 fluid dram, 1/20 of a scruple or 0.059194 milliliter.

(Minim British, NCI Thesaurus)

If I might venture to offer you a word of advice, said the affable official, it would be to make for the Hampshire line, for Sir James Ford, on the Surrey border, has as great an objection to such assemblies as I have, whilst Mr. Merridew, of Long Hall, who is the Hampshire magistrate, has fewer scruples upon the point.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I knew well that I risked death; for any drug that so potently controlled and shook the very fortress of identity, might, by the least scruple of an overdose or at the least inopportunity in the moment of exhibition, utterly blot out that immaterial tabernacle which I looked to it to change.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Trouble! aye, I know your scruples.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

His objections, the scruples of his integrity, seemed all done away, nobody could tell how; and the doubts and hesitations of her ambition were equally got over—and equally without apparent reason.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)