Scruple

Definitions: Scruple

Scruple

Noun

1. A unit of apothecary weight equal to 20 grains.

2. Uneasiness about the fitness of an action.

3. An ethical or moral principle that inhibits action.

Verb

1. Hesitate on moral grounds; "The man scrupled to perjure himself".

2. Raise scruples; "He lied and did not even scruple about it".

3. Have doubts about.

Date "scruple" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references)

Synonyms: Scruple

Synonyms: misgiving (n), qualm (n). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Absence of Motive	Verb: have no motive; scruple; (be unwilling).
Care	Noun: care, solicitude, heed; heedfulness; Adjective: scruple; (conscientiousness).
Gravity	Weighing, ponderation, trutination; weights; avoirdupois weight, troy weight, apothecaries' weight; grain, scruple, drachma, ounce, pound, lb, arroba, load, stone, hundredweight, cwt, ton, long ton, metric ton, quintal, carat, pennyweight, tod.
Probity	Punctilio, delicacy, nicety; scrupulosity, scrupulousness; Adjective: scruple; point, point of honor; punctuality.
Smallness	Small quantity, modicum, trace, hint, minimum; vanishing point; material point, atom, particle, molecule, corpuscle, point, speck, dot, mote, jot, iota, ace; minutiae, details; look, thought, idea, soupcon, dab, dight, whit, tittle, shade, shadow; spark, scintilla, gleam; touch, cast; grain, scruple, granule, globule, minim, sup, sip, sop, spice, drop, droplet, sprinkling, dash, morceau, screed, smack, tinge, tincture; inch, patch, scantling, tatter, cantlet, flitter, gobbet, mite, bit, morsel, crumb, seed, fritter, shive; snip, snippet; snick, snack, snatch, slip, scrag; chip, chipping; shiver, sliver, driblet, clipping, paring, shaving, hair.
Unbelief Doubt	Doubt; (uncertainty); skepticism, scepticism, misgiving, demure; distrust, mistrust, cynicism; misdoubt, suspicion, jealousy, scruple, qualm; onus probandi.
	Demure, stick at, pause, hesitate, scruple; stop to consider, waver.
Unwillingness	Scrupulousness, scrupulosity; qualms of conscience, twinge of conscience; delicacy, demur, scruple, qualm, shrinking, recoil; hesitation; (irresolution); fastidiousness.
	Demur, stick at, scruple, stickle; hang fire, run rusty; recoil, shrink, swerve; hesitate; avoid.
Willingness	Swallow the bait, nibble at the bait; gorge the hook; have no scruple of, make no scruple of; make no bones of; jump at, catch at; meet halfway; volunteer.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Scruple

English words defined with "scruple": Obole, Out of doubt ♦ Point of honor ♦ Scrupled, Skrupling, Stick ♦ To make scruple, troy weight. (references)

Specialty definitions using "scruple": Browns ♦ Pitchfork, Pun and Pickpocket ♦ Red Republicans. (references)

Domain	Title
Books	One Poor Scruple (The Tabb House Encore Series) (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Title	Author	Quote
Emma	Austen, Jane	I should myself have shrunk from any thing so hasty, and she would have felt every scruple of mine with multiplied strength and refinement.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Scruple" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 77.78% of the time. "Scruple" is used about 27 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	77.78%	21	76,261
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	22.22%	6	143,867
Total	100.00%	27	N/A

Expressions using "scruple": not to scruple to do smth. ♦ scruple to ♦ To make scruple. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language		Translations for "scruple"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		skrupull, varje ndërgjegjeje, ngurroj (boggle, demur, dither, falter, halt, hang, hesitate, linger, pendulate, vacillate, wabble, waver, wobble), më vret ndërgjegja. (various references)

Arabic		‏وسواس (haunt, obsession, scrupulosity), ‏تردد في القيام, ‏تردد (ambivalence, backwards, balance, be in two minds, boggle, crane, demur, difficulty, dither, fainting, falter, flicker, float, fluctuate, fluctuation, hang, haunt, hesitance, hesitancy, hesitate, hesitation, hover, hum and haw, indecision, irresolution, pause, perplexity, puzzle over, reticence, reverberate, shilly shally, sound, stick, stop, stumble, tergiversation, timidity, vacillate, vacillation, vibrate, vibration, waver, wobble, worry), ‏السكروبل وزن يساوي عشرون قمحة, ‏إحتار (puzzle over). (various references)

Bulgarian		съмнение (challenge, discredit, doubt, question, suspicion, uncertainty), угризение на съвестта, скрупули (qualm), колебая се (balance, boggle, chop, crane, demur, dilly dally, dither, falter, fluctuate, hang back, hesitate, hover, hum and haw, jib, pause, pendulate, seesaw, shilly shally, teeter, vacillate, vibrate, waver, whiffle, wobble, yo-yo), колебание (demur, dubiety, falter, faltering, fluctuation, hesitance, hesitancy, hesitation, hovel, indecision, oscillation, qualm, quandary, vacillation, variation, wabble, wavering, wobble), мъничко (shade, smack, sprinkle, stick, thimbleful, tincture, touch, trace, trifle), имам известни скрупули. (various references)

Chinese		顧忌 . (various references)

Czech		váhat (be in a dither, delay, dither, falter, hang back, hesitate, hold back, procrastinate, shilly shally, stagger, temporize, vacillate, waver), být v rozpacích (feel embarrassed, feel ill at ease). (various references)

Farsi		محظوراخلاقی , نهی اخلاقی , وسواس داشتن , وسواس باک , واحدسنجش چیزجزءی , تردیدداشتن (Stagger, Vacillate), تردید (Doubt, Hang, Hesitancy, Indecision, Qualm, Query, Skepticism, Suspicion, Uncertainty, Vibration), ذره (Ace, Bit, Corpuscle, Dust, Grain, Iota, Jot, Nip, Particle, Shred, Speck, Vestige, Whit), اندک (Lean, Light, Little, Low, Margin, Modicum, Paucity, Pinch, Scant, Scantling, Scarce, Scrimp, Skimpy, Slight, Whit), دودل بودن (Vacillate, Waver), بیم (Awe, Care, Dread, Misgiving, Phobia, Qualm, Scare, Scrupulosity). (various references)

Finnish		epäilys (doubt, misgiving, suspicion), epäily (doubt, misgiving, suspicion). (various references)

French		scrupule (scruples, scrupulosity). (various references)

German		Skrupel (qualm, scruples). (various references)

Greek		βάροσ 20 κόκκων, ενδοιασμόσ (compunction, demur, diffidence, qualm), ελάχιστο τι (rap), τύψη (compunction, qualm, remorse), διστάζω από ευσυνειδησίαν, δισταγμόσ (demur, hesitance, hesitancy, hesitation, indecision, qualm). (various references)

Hebrew		מצפון (conscience), � קיפת מצפון (compunction, qualm). (various references)

Hungarian		kétség (doubt, misgiving, misgivings, query, question, suspense), patikamérték, lelkiismeretfurdalás (compunction, pangs of conscience, pricks of conscience, qualms of conscience, remorse, self-reproach, twitch of conscience). (various references)

Indonesian		keberatan (objection, override, raise objection). (various references)

Italian		scrupolo (care), farsi scrupolo di, esitare (boggle, demur, falter, halt, hesitance, hesitate, shilly shally, to find a market, to sell, wabble, waver, wobble). (various references)

Pig Latin		uplescray

Portuguese		ter escrúpulos, hesitar (balance, boggle, doubt, falter, flinch, flour, fluctuate, halt, hesitate, lingerer, nutate, oscillate, pendulate, repose, shilly shally, teeter, waver), hesitação (backwardness, boggle, doubt, flinch, hesitance, hesitancy, hesitation, indecisive, perquisite, shilly shally, teeter, wabble, waver, wavering, wobble), escrúpulo (boggle, compunction, conscience, demur, nicety, qualmishness, scrupulosity), dúvida (demur, doubt, doubting, dubiety, hesperian, mind-breaker, misgovern, objection, puzzle, query, suspense, suspicion). (various references)

Romanian		scrupul (tenderness), nu face scrupule, nu şovãi (know one's mind), nu avea scrupule, mãsurã de greutate în farmacii, jena (disturb, embarrass, hinder, hurt, pinch, straiten, trouble), ezita (back, boggle, crane, demur, falter, fluctuate, halt, hang, hesitate, hobble, hold back, pause, shilly shally, stagger, stand off, stand on, sway, vacillate, veer, waver, wobble), dram (my good friend), conştiinţã (conscience, consciousness, mind), cantitate infimã. (various references)

Russian		стесняться (be shy, hesitate), скрупул, сомневаться (disbelieve, doubt, hang in doubt, hang in the balance, hesitate, misdoubt, question, stickle, tremble in the balance), сомнение (challenge, disbelief, discredit, distrust, doubt, dubiety, hesitance, hesitancy, hesitation, impeachment, impereachment, qualm). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		skrupula, ustručavati se (hesitate, shilly shally), osećanje dužnosti. (various references)

Spanish		escrúpulo (compunction, doubt, qualm). (various references)

Swedish		skrupel, samvetsbetänkligheter, ha skrupler. (various references)

Turkish		vicdanı elvermemek, vicdanı elvermeme, vicdan (conscience, heart, inner man, remorse), tereddüd etmek (balk at, be vague about smth., dither, falter, halt, hesitate, oscillate, pause, pendulate, seesaw, shilly shally, stagger, stickle, vacillate, vibrate, waver, wobble, yaw), endişe (agitation, angst, anxiety, apprehension, care, concern, disquiet, disquietude, disturbance, doubt, fear, fears, fret, inquietude, perturbation, preoccupation, qualm, solicitude, stew, suspense, uneasiness, worry), eczacı tartı birimi. (various references)

Ukranian		сумніватися (demur, dispute, distrust, doubt, empeach, hesitate, impeach, question), сумнів (challenge, demur, doubt, dubiety, hesitance, hesitancy, impeachment, misdoubt, offence, offense, qualm, query, question), скрупул, крихта (grain, modicum, ounce, tithe, whit), відчувати докори сумління (feel bad), не зважуватися (hesitate, shy). (various references)

Vietnamese		sự ngại ngùng (scrupulousness), sự đắn đo (calculation, scrupulousness). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	scrupulum, scrupulus. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "scruple": scrupled, scruples. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Scruple" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Schupke, Scricle, scripulum, scrope, scrul, scrumple, scrupe, scrupge, scrupple, scrupule, Scuole, Serpula. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "scruple" (pronounced skruw"pul)
5	-r uw" p u l	quadruple.
4	-uw" p u l	pupil.
3	-p u l	ample, Appel, apple, archetypal, businesspeople, carpal, chapel, congresspeople, couple, craftspeople, cripple, crumple, decouple, dimple, disciple, episcopal, example, fipple, gospel, grapple, hopple, laypeople, maple, metacarpal, multiple, municipal, newspeople, nipple, oedipal, opal, papal, people, pimple, pineapple, Popple, principal, principle, purple, quintuple, ripple, rumple, salespeople, sample, scalpel, Semple, simple, spokespeople, staple, steeple, subprincipal, supple, temple, tipple, topple, townspeople, trample, triple, uncouple.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "c-e-l-p-r-s-u"
	-1 letter: cupels, lucres, pulers, pulser, spruce, ulcers.
	-2 letters: clues, cruel, cruse, cupel, cures, curls, curse, ecrus, luces, lucre, lures, puces, puler, pules, pulse, purls, purse, rules, sculp, slurp, sprue, sucre, super, ulcer.
	-3 letters: cels, ceps, clue, crus, cues, cups, cure, curl, curs, cusp, ecru, ecus, luce, lues, lure, pecs, plus, puce, pule, puls, pure, purl, purs, recs, reps, rues, rule, ruse, scup, slue, slur, spec, spue, spur, suer, supe, sure, user.
	-4 letters: cel, cep, cue, cup, cur, ecu, els, ers, leu, pec, per, pes, pul, pur, pus, rec, rep, res, rue, sec, sel, ser, sue, sup, ups, use.
	-5 letters: el, er, es, pe, re, up, us.
	Words containing the letters "c-e-l-p-r-s-u"
	+1 letter: couplers, crumples, cupelers, pluckers, resculpt, scrupled, scruples, specular, sprucely, surplice.
	+2 letters: corpuscle, crepuscle, cupellers, opercules, peculiars, plectrums, precludes, recouples, republics, resculpts, sculpture, sepulcher, sepulchre, superclub, supercoil, supercool, surplices.
	+3 letters: corpuscles, crepuscles, crepuscule, crumpliest, curlpapers, operculars, operculums, parbuckles, peculators, pelycosaur, preciously, preclusion, preclusive, pronucleus, purulences, resculpted, respectful, sculptress, sculptured, sculptures, sepulchers, sepulchral, sepulchred, sepulchres, specularly, speculator, superblock, superclass, superclean, superclubs, supercoils, supercools, superflack, superscale, superslick, uncouplers, uncrumples.
	+4 letters: apicultures, colporteurs, copublisher, corpulences, crepuscular, crepuscules, fluoroscope, groupuscule, lectureship, leprechauns, pelycosaurs, pitcherfuls, pitchersful, pluperfects, precalculus, preclusions, preschedule, procedurals, purchasable, putrescible, republicans, resculpting, sepulchered, sepulchring, spectacular, specularity, speculators, spherulitic, superblocks, supercoiled, supercooled, superficial, superflacks, superscales, superschool.
	+5 letters: capitularies, coleopterous, computerless, copublishers, corpulencies, counterplans, counterplays, counterpleas, counterplots, counterploys, counterspell, cupronickels, fluoroscoped, fluoroscopes, groupuscules, lectureships, microcapsule, neuroleptics, particulates, percussively, perniciously, pisciculture, plutocracies, porcelaneous, portcullises, precariously, preclusively, precociously, prescheduled, preschedules, proconsulate, pronucleuses, prosecutable, pulchritudes, reduplicates, respectfully, sculptresses, sepulchering, sepulchrally, spectaculars, sprachgefuhl, superciliary, supercilious, superclasses, supercluster, supercoiling, supercooling, superhelical, superhelices, superplastic, superschools, superspecial, thunderclaps, ultraprecise.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.