as in doubt
an uneasy feeling about the rightness of what one is doing or going to do
throughout her school years she cheated without compunction
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of compunction
Russia and Ukraine show no compunctions about killing the civilians of their enemy.
—
Oded J K Faran, Oc Register, 21 Oct. 2025
The boundaries of the world are delineated neatly by your compunctions.
—Matthew Shen Goodman, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025
But other activists also give in when faced with enormous pressure from a state that has no compunction about arranging killings and targeting family members.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 17 Sep. 2025
With its back against the wall, the Kremlin will also have less compunction about trying to destabilize its enemies through sometimes exotic and hard-to-track methods in the biological, chemical, cyberspace, or artificial intelligence realms.
—Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Foreign Affairs, 1 Nov. 2022
See All Example Sentences for compunction
Oded J K Faran, Oc Register, 21 Oct. 2025
The boundaries of the world are delineated neatly by your compunctions.
—Matthew Shen Goodman, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025
But other activists also give in when faced with enormous pressure from a state that has no compunction about arranging killings and targeting family members.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 17 Sep. 2025
With its back against the wall, the Kremlin will also have less compunction about trying to destabilize its enemies through sometimes exotic and hard-to-track methods in the biological, chemical, cyberspace, or artificial intelligence realms.
—Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Foreign Affairs, 1 Nov. 2022
See All Example Sentences for compunction
Recent Examples of Synonyms for compunction
Noun
-
For now, those doubts have done little to dent her standing.—
Hanako Montgomery,
CNN Money,
6 Feb. 2026
-
Technical doubts and stealth concerns Skepticism around the SM-39 centers on physics as much as design.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
These firms now pay their rainmakers like Wall Street stars and have dropped their courtly scruples for relentless commercialism.—
Liz Hoffman,
semafor.com,
5 Feb. 2026
-
Mainstream Republicans and right-leaning unaffiliated voters will gravitate to candidates with experience and scruples.—
Krista Kafer,
Denver Post,
31 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
Last month, Judge Sarah Willis granted a defense motion to allow for a lesser sentence, which was based on Desouza’s showing of remorse, young age, history of childhood trauma, and psychiatric issues.—
Shira Moolten,
Sun Sentinel,
6 Feb. 2026
-
Yet an outstanding cast, scripts that are perceptive about grief and remorse, and Hennie’s impressionistic directing more than make up for it.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
He's gotten his legislative agenda through the House and the Senate without any objection of any meaningful sort.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
8 Feb. 2026
-
Praise for the post being removed More Republicans lodged their objections to the post after the video was taken down.—
Matt Brown,
Chicago Tribune,
7 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
And then there's Reinhardt's sinister robot sidekick Maximilian, a silent, malevolent presence who has no qualms about slicing up humans with his Swiss Army Knife-esque collection of torture devices.—
Richard Edwards,
Space.com,
8 Feb. 2026
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Attia’s emails with Epstein reveal no such qualms.—
Tom Bartlett,
The Atlantic,
3 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
It’s regarded as his greatest song ever, containing his favorite themes of violence, mortality, regret, and above all, loneliness, against the backdrop of the American wilderness.—
Angie Martoccio,
Rolling Stone,
13 Feb. 2026
-
But that's definitely my big regret.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Much of it is guilt by association — on the grounds, if nothing else, that elites should have known better than to associate with such a man.—
Ben Smith,
semafor.com,
9 Feb. 2026
-
The files are not findings of guilt, and some critics have raised concerns about releasing confidential and uncorroborated material concerning those who have not been charged with a crime.—
Ethan Varian,
Mercury News,
8 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Compunction.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/compunction. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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