SCRUPLE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Scruple

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/skrˈupəl/ Listen

noun

Scruple n.

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."

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."

To make scruple, to hesitate from conscientious motives; to scruple.

verb

Scruple v. t.

To regard with suspicion; to hesitate at; to question. "Others long before them... scrupled more the books of heretics than of gentiles."

To excite scruples in; to cause to scruple. (R.) "Letters which did still scruple many of them."

Scruple v. i. (past & past part. scrupled; pres. part. scrupling) 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." "Men scruple at the lawfulness of a set form of divine worship."

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Etymology of 'Scruple'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Scruple" Quotes from Famous Books

... generals, such as Tilly or Wallenstein. He carefully distinguished between the enemy with whom he was at war, and the head of the Empire, to whom he owed obedience. He did not venture to touch the household furniture of the latter, while, without scruple, he appropriated and transported to Dresden the cannon of the former. He did not take up his residence in the imperial palace, but the house of Lichtenstein; too modest to use the apartments of one whom he had deprived of a kingdom. Had ...

— The History of the Thirty Years' War • Friedrich Schiller, Translated by Rev. A. J. W. Morrison, M.A.

... empire in Fleet Street—why the nail should be struck on the head. Densher made no secret to Kate of his having asked for a day to decide; and his account of that matter was that he felt he owed it to her to speak to her first. She assured him on this that nothing so much as that scruple had yet shown her how they were bound together; she was clearly proud of his letting a thing of such importance depend on her; but she was clearer still as to his instant duty. She rejoiced in his prospect and urged him to his ...

— The Wings of the Dove, Volume 1 of 2 • Henry James

... away before the breaking-up of the house-party, and that is the last I have seen of her, but not the last I've heard. Once in a while I get a letter, amusing, erratic, like herself; and in such communications she doesn't scruple to chronicle other flirtations which have followed hard on mine. Only a short time before the making of this plot in a Rotterdam garden, a letter from her gave startling news: consequently I am now in possession of knowledge apparently denied ...

— The Chauffeur and the Chaperon • C. N. Williamson

... be a good hunter and well beloved, is seldom permitted to keep a wife that a stronger man thinks worth his notice; for at any time when the wives of those strong wrestlers are heavy laden either with furs or provisions, they make no scruple of tearing any other man's wife from his bosom and making her bear a part of his luggage. This custom prevails throughout all their tribes, and causes a great spirit of emulation among their youth, who are upon all occasions, from their childhood, trying their strength and skill ...

— Pioneers in Canada • Sir Harry Johnston

... closer to her: "In such a case as this I have never before found myself; but in similar cases I have always said to myself, how will it be tomorrow? I feel very clearly that the fate of many persons is now in my hands, and what I have to do is soon said without scruple or hesitation. I consent to the separation; I ought to have made up my mind to it before; by my unwillingness and reluctance I have destroyed my child. There are certain things on which destiny obstinately insists. In vain may reason, may virtue, ...

— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. II • Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke

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