Scrupulous

//ˈskɹuː.pjə.ləs// adj

adj ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Exactly and carefully conducted.

    "Come on! You have got to admire their dedication to the rules! These two men are so scrupulous, they would sit at a broken red traffic light for six hours in the middle of the night. “Hey, red is red! We live in a civilized society! Red is red! We stay!”"

  2. 2
    Having scruples or compunctions.
  3. 3
    Precise; exact or strict.

    "He is scrupulous in his finances."

  4. 4
    Wrongly feeling guilt or anxiety about one’s morality; suffering from scrupulosity.

    "Because I have a scrupulous conscience, I sometimes need to be reminded that not everything I do is sinful."

Adjective
  1. 1
    characterized by extreme care and great effort wordnet
  2. 2
    having scruples; arising from a sense of right and wrong; principled wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
ethicalmeticulouspainstakingreligiousaboveboardaccurate

Example

More examples

"Though Alfred is scrupulous in fulfilling his duties at work, he is less conscientious about his obligations at home."

Etymology

From Middle French scrupuleux, from Latin scrupulosus.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.