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conscience

Pronunciation: /ˈkɒnʃ(ə)ns/
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Definition of conscience

noun

  • a person’s moral sense of right and wrong, viewed as acting as a guide to one’s behaviour:he had a guilty conscience about his desires [mass noun]:Ben was suffering a pang of conscience

Phrases

in (all) conscience

given the fact that this is probably wrong; in fairness:how can we in all conscience justify the charging of fees for such a service?

on one's conscience

weighing heavily and guiltily on one’s mind:an act of providence had prevented him from having a death on his conscience

Derivatives

conscienceless

adjective

Origin:

Middle English (also in the sense 'inner thoughts or knowledge'): via Old French from Latin conscientia, from conscient- 'being privy to', from the verb conscire, from con- 'with' + scire 'know'

Spelling help

Remember that conscience has -sci- in the middle.

conscience in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of conscience in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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