different between indecision vs scruple

English

Etymology

From French indécision.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -???n
• IPA^(key): /?nd??s??(?)n/

Noun

indecision (usually uncountable, plural indecisions)

1. The inability to decide on a course of action, especially if two or more possibilities exist.
   • 1903, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, chapter 21:

     There was no indecision or delay in the establishment of their relations; Rebecca's heart flew like an arrow to its mark, and her mind, meeting its superior, settled at once into an abiding attitude of respectful homage.

Synonyms

• (inability to decide): indecisiveness

Translations

English

Etymology

From Old French scrupule, from Latin scr?pulus (“(literally) a small sharp or pointed stone; the twenty-fourth part of an ounce; uneasiness of mind, anxiety, doubt, trouble; scruple”), diminutive of scr?pus (“a rough or sharp stone; anxiety, uneasiness”); perhaps akin to Ancient Greek ?????? (skúros, “the chippings of stone”), from ????? (xurón, “razor”), from ??? (xú?, “to scrape”), from Proto-Indo-European *ksunyo-.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?sk?u?p?l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?sk?up?l/
• Rhymes: -u?p?l
• Hyphenation: scru?ple

Noun

scruple (plural scruples)

1. (pharmacy) A weight of ¹?₂₈₈ of a pound, that is, twenty grains or one third of a dram, about 1.3 grams (symbol: ?).

   Synonym: (abbreviation) s.ap.
2. (obsolete, by extension) A very small quantity; a particle.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:modicum
3. (obsolete) A doubt or uncertainty concerning a matter of fact; intellectual perplexity.
4. Hesitation to act from the difficulty of determining what is right or expedient; doubt, hesitation or unwillingness due to motives of conscience.
5. A Hebrew unit of time equal to ¹?₁₀₈₀ hour.

Derived terms

• scrupleless
• scrupulosity
• scrupulous
• scrupulously
• scrupulousness
• unscrupulous
• unscrupulously
• unscrupulousness

Translations

Verb

scruple (third-person singular simple present scruples, present participle scrupling, simple past and past participle scrupled)

1. (intransitive) To hesitate or be reluctant to act due to considerations of conscience or expedience.
2. (intransitive) To excite scruples in; to cause to scruple.
3. (transitive) To regard with suspicion; to question.
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To question the truth of (a fact, etc.); to doubt; to hesitate to believe, to question.

Translations

Further reading

• conscience on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• scruple in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• scruple in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• curples