COMPUNCTION • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Compunction

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/kəmpˈəŋkʃən/ Listen

noun

Compunction n.

A pricking; stimulation. (Obs.) "That acid and piercing spirit which, with such activity and compunction, invadeth the brains and nostrils."

A picking of heart; poignant grief proceeding from a sense of guilt or consciousness of causing pain; the sting of conscience. "He acknowledged his disloyalty to the king, with expressions of great compunction."

Synonyms: Compunction, Remorse, Contrition. Remorse is anguish of soul under a sense of guilt or consciousness of having offended God or brought evil upon one's self or others. Compunction is the pain occasioned by a wounded and awakened conscience. Neither of them implies true contrition, which denotes self-condemnation, humiliation, and repentance. We speak of the gnawings of remorse; of compunction for a specific act of transgression; of deep contrition in view of our past lives. See Regret.

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Etymology of 'Compunction'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Compunction" Quotes from Famous Books

... Niles, Smith, Pierce, Benton, Black, Tipton, and other honorable Senators, either that their perception is so dull, they know not whereof they affirm, or that their moral sense is so blunted they can demand without compunction a violation ...

— The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus • American Anti-Slavery Society

... because that gave him a chance to steal a look behind him without being caught in the act. Good, wide hat-brims have more uses than to shield one's face from the sun. He saw that Evadna was riding in what looked like a sulky silence beside her friend, but he felt no compunction for what he had done; instead he was exhilarated as with some heady wine, and he did not want to do any thinking about it—yet. He did not even want to be near Evadna. He faced to the front, and lighted his cigarette while he listened ...

— Good Indian • B. M. Bower

... the offers of marriage which she accepted in succession, abandoning one suitor after the other without any adequate reason or any feeling of compunction. At length she unexpectedly accepted a man of whom she had ...

— Another World - Fragments from the Star City of Montalluyah • Benjamin Lumley (AKA Hermes)

... possible animal, as we have seen, and all sorts of nature-phenomena, such as rain and fire and water and clouds, and sun, moon and stars—which WE consider quite senseless and inanimate. Towards these apparently senseless things therefore he felt the same compunction as I have described him feeling towards his brother tribesmen. He could sin against them too. He could sin against his totem-animal by eating it; he could sin against his 'brother the ox' by consuming its strength in the labor of the plough; he could ...

— Pagan & Christian Creeds - Their Origin and Meaning • Edward Carpenter

... in for the first time. Although he had been frowning with vexation, some touch of compunction had held him silent. "I will not allow you to say that, nor should you wish to speak so." He hesitated, rubbing his chin perplexedly. "I acknowledge that I experience the same disgust that you do; yet I am not altogether certain that ...

— The Thrall of Leif the Lucky • Ottilie A. Liljencrantz

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