com·punc·tion

(kəm-pŭngk′shən)

1. A strong uneasiness caused by a sense of guilt: stole the money without compunction. See Synonyms at penitence.

2. A sting of conscience or a pang of doubt aroused by wrongdoing or the prospect of wrongdoing: "commercial speculators and hired politicians who had no compunction about pillaging their country for personal gain" (Leo Damrosch).

[Middle English compunccioun, from Old French componction, from Late Latin compūnctiō, compūnctiōn-, puncture, sting of conscience, from Latin compūnctus, past participle of compungere, to sting : com-, intensive pref.; see com- + pungere, to prick; see peuk- in Indo-European roots.]

com·punc′tious (-shəs) adj.

com·punc′tious·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

compunctious

adjective

Feeling or expressing regret for one's sins or misdeeds:

contrite, penitent, penitential, regretful, remorseful, repentant, sorry.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Mother and daughter adored each other and revered their son and brother; and Archer loved them with a tenderness made compunctious and uncritical by the sense of their exaggerated admiration, and by his secret satisfaction in it.

View in context

And young Powell would have grown weary and compunctious at last if it had not become manifest to him that he had not been alone in the highly incorrect occupation of watching the movements of Captain Anthony.

View in context

Since the reign of Salah al-Din or Saladin, European poets, fabulists, and authors of instructive prose wrestled with the sultan's dual identity as a fierce antagonist to Crusader armies and his reputation as a compunctious, highly moral knight.

An Ayyubid Renaissance: Saladin, from Knighthood to Nahda

(46) Although far from as worldly as some Abbasid caliphs, 'Umar is cast in a guilt-ridden and compunctious mood that is akin to the moods of the later caliphs al-Mansur, al-Rashid, al-Amin, al-Maamun, and al-Mu'tasim.

'Umar b. al-Khattab and the Abbasids

It is my contention, therefore, that the knowing with of conscience, as expounded by Perkins, bears unequivocal witness in Macbeth both discursively in the form of internal dialogue masquerading as external dialogue, and objectively in the figure of Banquo as Macbeth's compunctious Other.

"Compunctious visitings": conscience as unequivocal witness in Macbeth

That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between The effect and it!

Euclid at the core: recentering literary education