compunction
Guilty hesitation felt
Compunction is a feeling of guilt or moral unease about something you've done or are considering doing.
It suggests the pricking of conscience that makes you hesitate or regret.
The word appears most often in negative constructions: someone who acts without compunction feels no guilt or remorse whatsoever.
She had no compunction about firing employees who underperformed.
A person with compunctions about something has reservations or scruples that might hold them back.
Moral doubt or hesitation
- qualmMomentary moral hesitation
- reluctanceDisinclination to act
- reservationAdvance arrangement to hold
- misgivingUneasy feeling of doubt
hesitancy · doubt · pause · wavering · unease · disquiet · ambivalence · tentativeness
Guilt for wrongdoing
- contritionRemorseful state over misdeeds
- shamePainful awareness of failure
- regretSorrow over past actions
- self-reproachBlaming oneself for wrongdoing
penitence · repentance · culpability · confession · atonement · self-condemnation · wrongdoing · transgression
Concerning right conduct
- ethicsStudy of right conduct
- scruplesMoral reservations about acting
- principlesFoundational moral beliefs
- integrityMoral soundness and consistency
conscientiousness · duty · responsibility · righteousness · virtue · discernment · judgment · uprightness
scruple
Moral doubt or hesitation
- qualmMomentary moral hesitation
- reluctanceDisinclination to act
- reservationAdvance arrangement to hold
misgiving · hesitancy · doubt · pause · wavering · unease · disquiet · ambivalence · tentativeness · uncertainty
remorse
Guilt for wrongdoing
- contritionRemorseful state over misdeeds
- shamePainful awareness of failure
- regretSorrow over past actions
self-reproach · penitence · repentance · culpability · confession · atonement · self-condemnation · wrongdoing · transgression · absolution
moral
Concerning right conduct
- ethicsStudy of right conduct
- scruplesMoral reservations about acting
- principlesFoundational moral beliefs
integrity · conscientiousness · duty · responsibility · righteousness · virtue · discernment · judgment · uprightness · rectitude
- emotionsjoy, anger, fear, sadness, love
- guiltguilty, guilt trip, guilty conscience, remorseful, contrition
- moral qualmsguilt, regret, shame, remorse, scruple
- moral emotionsguilt, shame, remorse, moral guilt, conscience
- Penanceconfession booth, act of contrition, contrition, penitent, public penance
- Orthodox SpiritualityDesert Fathers, stillness, holy silence, deification, watchfulness
compunctionremorselessness
State of feeling no regret
shamelessness · impenitence · callousness · ruthlessness · cold-bloodedness
compunctionconfidence
Self-assurance or trust
assurance · certainty · self-assurance · conviction · self-confidence
compunctionindifference
Lack of interest
apathy · unconcern · impenitence · unrepentance · insouciance