| / English Dictionary |
CONSCIENCE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Conformity to one's own sense of right conduct
Example:
a person of unflagging conscience
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("conscience" is a kind of...):
morality (concern with the distinction between good and evil or right and wrong; right or good conduct)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "conscience"):
conscientiousness (the quality of being in accord with the dictates of conscience)
unconscientiousness (the quality of being willing to ignore the dictates of conscience)
Derivation:
conscientious (guided by or in accordance with conscience or sense of right and wrong)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A feeling of shame when you do something immoral
Example:
he has no conscience about his cruelty
Classified under:
Nouns denoting feelings and emotions
Hypernyms ("conscience" is a kind of...):
shame (a painful emotion resulting from an awareness of inadequacy or guilt)
Derivation:
conscientious (guided by or in accordance with conscience or sense of right and wrong)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Motivation deriving logically from ethical or moral principles that govern a person's thoughts and actions
Synonyms:
conscience; moral sense; scruples; sense of right and wrong
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("conscience" is a kind of...):
ethical motive; ethics; morality; morals (motivation based on ideas of right and wrong)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "conscience"):
superego ((psychoanalysis) that part of the unconscious mind that acts as a conscience)
small voice; voice of conscience; wee small voice (an inner voice that judges your behavior)
sense of duty; sense of shame (a motivating awareness of ethical responsibility)
Context examples:
It was a matter of principle and conscience.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
You must therefore allow me to follow the dictates of my conscience on this occasion, which leads me to perform what I look on as a point of duty.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Beth is my conscience, and I can't give her up.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
“Now, mind you,” said the doctor, “I clear my conscience—the name of rum for you is death.”
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Her conscience, her sensitive conscience, would have felt all that the conscience of her husband ought to have felt.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
She had been often remiss, her conscience told her so; remiss, perhaps, more in thought than fact; scornful, ungracious.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
However, that’s none of my business; I am sent to nurse you and get you well; I do my duty with a safe conscience; it were well if everybody did the same.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Ah, it’s an ill conscience that’s such an enemy to rest!
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
His conscience was clear and his heart light amidst all his troubles; so he went peaceably to bed, left all his cares to Heaven, and soon fell asleep.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Her conscience stopt her in the middle, but Edmund was satisfied.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
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