compunction
noun /kəmˈpʌŋkʃn/
/kəmˈpʌŋkʃn/
(formal) [uncountable] also [C] in NAmE usually used in negative sentences- a guilty feeling about doing something
- He had lied to her without compunction.
- compunction about doing something She felt no compunction about leaving her job.
- (North American English) She has no compunctions about rejecting the plan.
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French componction, from ecclesiastical Latin compunctio(n-), from Latin compungere ‘prick sharply’, from com- (expressing intensive force) + pungere ‘to prick’.