Compunctious
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Exhibiting compunctions, scruples, feelings of guilt.
"Come you Spirits, That tend on mortall thoughts, vnſex me here, And fill me from the Crowne to the Toe, top-full Of direſt Crueltie: make thick my blood, Stop vp th’acceſſe, and paſſage to Remorſe, That no compunctious viſitings of Nature Shake my fell purpoſe, nor keepe peace betweene Th’effect, and hit."
Example
More examples"Come you Spirits, That tend on mortall thoughts, vnſex me here, And fill me from the Crowne to the Toe, top-full Of direſt Crueltie: make thick my blood, Stop vp th’acceſſe, and paſſage to Remorſe, That no compunctious viſitings of Nature Shake my fell purpoſe, nor keepe peace betweene Th’effect, and hit."
Etymology
From the stem of compunction + -ous; compare factious. Apparently taken up in modern use from Macbeth by William Shakespeare (see quotation).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.