• IPA: /kəmˈpʌŋk.ʃən/

compunction

1. A pricking#Noun|pricking of conscience or a feeling#Noun|feeling of regret#Noun|regret, especially one which is slight#Adjective|slight or fleeting#Adjective|fleeting.

   Synonyms: qualm, regret, remorse, Thesaurus:remorse

   • 1855 December – 1857 June​, Charles Dickens, “Something Right Somewhere”, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, OCLC 83401042 ↗, book the second (Riches), page 366 ↗:

     [H]e would have had no compunction whatever in flinging him out of the highest window in Venice into the deepest water of the city.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, “Jonathan Harker’s Journal—Continued”, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, OCLC 688657546 ↗, page 36 ↗:

     [T]he instant the door had closed behind him, I leaned over and looked at the letters, which were face down on the table. I felt no compunction in doing so, for under the circumstances I felt that I should protect myself in every way I could.

   • 1920 November 9, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter VIII, in Women in Love, New York, N.Y.: Privately printed [by Thomas Seltzer] for subscribers only, OCLC 2883166 ↗, page 112 ↗:

     But he felt, later, a little compunction. He had been violent, cruel with poor Hermione. He wanted to recompense her, to make it up.

   • 2003 February 16, Blaine Greteman, "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,423486,00.html No Peace Dividend]," Time:

     As for average U.S. consumers, they've shown little compunction about buying diamonds that fund bloody militias in Africa.

• French: scrupule, remords
• German: Gewissensbisse, Reue
• Italian: compunzione
• Portuguese: compunção
• Russian: угрызе́ния со́вести
• Spanish: compunción, remordimiento