scruple

Word family

scru·ple1 /ˈskruːpəl/ noun [countableC usually plural, uncountableU]

GOOD/MORALa belief about what is right and wrong that prevents you from doing bad things 顾忌，顾虑 → qualm

scruples about doing something

He had no scruples about selling faulty goods to people.

他卖次货给人，心里没有丝毫不安。

a man with no moral scruples

一个道德上无所顾忌的男人

without scruple

They made thousands of families homeless without scruple.

他们肆无忌惮，令成千上万的家庭流离失所。

Examples from the Corpus

scruple• He had a steely streak but his morals and scruples were beyond reproach.• In the rush not to be left behind, scruples about starvation and labour camps are forgotten.• She refused his advances and confounded a multitude of scholars assembled by him to overcome her scruples.• He overcame his scruples and by 1846 took thirty-five wives, eight of them widows of Joseph Smith.• They are passive, we are told; moral scruples don't come into it.• I respect your scruple, scour; but in this case I believe true delicacy requires you to do as I ask.

had ... scruples• He could not say that he had scruples of conscience for not joining in the military training.• Crell in particular had no scruples about playing on his countrymen's cultural nationalism for the development of the fatherland's chemistry.• But when the celebs paraded for Reagan 20 years ago, Republicans had no such scruples.

scruple2 verb

not scruple to do something literaryDISHONEST to be willing to do something even though it may be wrong or may upset people 毫无顾忌地做某事

They did not scruple to bomb innocent civilians.

他们毫无顾忌地轰炸无辜平民。

Examples from the Corpus

not scruple to do something• They did not scruple to bomb innocent civilians.• Dumont does not scruple to show the naked corpse, left on the edge of a ploughed field.

Examples from the Corpus

scruple• Dumont does not scruple to show the naked corpse, left on the edge of a ploughed field.

Origin scruple1

(1400-1500) Old French scrupule, from Latin scrupulus “small sharp stone, cause of mental discomfort”, from scrupus “sharp stone”

scru·ple1 nounscruple2 verb

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus