Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A strong uneasiness caused by a sense of guilt: synonym: penitence.
- noun A sting of conscience or a pang of doubt aroused by wrongdoing or the prospect of wrongdoing.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A pricking; stimulation; irritation.
- noun The stinging or pricking of the conscience; uneasiness caused by tenderness of conscience or feelings; regret, as for wrong-doing or for giving pain to another; contrition; remorse.
- noun Synonyms Regret, Remorse, etc. See
penitence .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A pricking; stimulation.
- noun A picking of heart; poignant grief proceeding from a sense of guilt or consciousness of causing pain; the sting of conscience.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A pricking of
conscience or a feeling ofregret , especially one which isslight orfleeting .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a feeling of deep regret (usually for some misdeed)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Notwithstanding all these arguments a compunction was always present in Miss Eelen's worn out yet not extinguished heart.
Kirsteen: The Story of a Scotch Family Seventy Years Ago Margaret 1891
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Apart from Thierry Henry, whose handball helped France pinch the ticket to South Africa from Ireland's pockets, none of the greats really showed remorse, though one will never know whether they actually felt something called compunction in their private hours.
The Times of India 2010
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Apart from Thierry Henry, whose handball helped France pinch the ticket to South Africa from Ireland's pockets, none of the greats really showed remorse, though one will never know whether they actually felt something called compunction in their private hours.
The Times of India 2010
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The reasons for cutting off funding don't so much involve "compunction" as whether the department has to fund sixth- and seventh-year students in order to meet the teaching expectations of the university.
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Terry's has been looking at the deeds of his own past life and is feeling "compunction", the sting of guilt.
Compunction 2006
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She said at last while Andy, with a kind of compunction in his silence, waited:
The Glass Slipper Eberhart, Mignon G 1938
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Lady Winsleigh studied the lovely face, eloquent with love and truth, for some moments in silence; -- a kind of compunction pricked her conscience.
Thelma Marie Corelli 1889
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In West End drawing-rooms his personal gift had begun to tell no less than in this crowded, squalid East; and as his aims became known, other men, finding the thoughts of their own hearts revealed in him, or touched with that social compunction which is one of the notes of our time, came down and became his helpers.
Robert Elsmere Humphry Ward 1885
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In West End drawing-rooms his personal gift had begun to tell no less than in this crowded, squalid East; and as his aims became known, other men, finding the thoughts of their own hearts revealed in him, or touched with that social compunction which is one of the notes of our time, came down and became his helpers.
Robert Elsmere Humphry Ward 1885
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That rare possibility of self-contemplation which comes in any complete severance from our wonted life made her judge herself as she had never done before: the compunction which is inseparable from a sympathetic nature keenly alive to the possible experience of others, began to stir in her with growing force.
Romola George Eliot 1849
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