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conscience

 - 9 dictionary results
Moral Compass
Hesitating to help an injured man. Lack of moral compass or mistake?
www.ResponsibilityProject.com

con⋅science

  [kon-shuhns]
Use conscience in a Sentence
–noun
1. the inner sense of what is right or wrong in one's conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action: to follow the dictates of conscience.
2. the complex of ethical and moral principles that controls or inhibits the actions or thoughts of an individual.
3. an inhibiting sense of what is prudent: I'd eat another piece of pie but my conscience would bother me.
4. conscientiousness.
5. Obsolete. consciousness; self-knowledge.
6. Obsolete. strict and reverential observance.
—Idioms
7. have something on one's conscience, to feel guilty about something, as an act that one considers wrong: She behaves as if she had something on her conscience.
8. in all conscience,
a. in all reason and fairness.
b. certainly; assuredly.
Also, in conscience.
Origin:
1175–1225; ME < AF < L conscientia knowledge, awareness, conscience. See con-, science

Related forms:
con⋅science⋅less, adjective
con⋅science⋅less⋅ly, adverb
con⋅science⋅less⋅ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Moral Compass
Hesitating to help an injured man. Lack of moral compass or mistake?
www.ResponsibilityProject.com
con·science   (kŏn'shəns)   
n.  

    1. The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong: Let your conscience be your guide.

    2. A source of moral or ethical judgment or pronouncement: a document that serves as the nation's conscience.

    3. Conformity to one's own sense of right conduct: a person of unflagging conscience.

  2. The part of the superego in psychoanalysis that judges the ethical nature of one's actions and thoughts and then transmits such determinations to the ego for consideration.

  3. Obsolete Consciousness.


[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin cōnscientia, from cōnsciēns, cōnscient-, present participle of cōnscīre, to be conscious of : com-, intensive pref.; see com- + scīre, to know; see skei- in Indo-European roots.]
con'science·less adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

conscience 
c.1225, from O.Fr. conscience, from L. conscientia "knowledge within oneself, a moral sense," prp. of conscire "be mutually aware," from com- "with" + scire "to know." Probably a loan-translation of Gk. syneidesis. Sometimes nativized in O.E./M.E. as inwit. Rus. also uses a loan-translation, so-vest, "conscience," lit. "with-knowledge." Conscientious objector first recorded 1916.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: con·science
Function: adjective
: exempting persons whose religious beliefs forbid compliance <conscience laws, which allow physicians…to refuse to participate in abortions —W. J. Curran>
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: con·science
Pronunciation: 'kän-ch&n(t)s
Function: noun
: the part of the superego in psychoanalysis that transmits commands andadmonitions to the ego
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

conscience con·science (kŏn'shəns)
n.

  1. The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong.

  2. The part of the superego that judges the ethical nature of one's actions and thoughts and then transmits such determinations to the ego for consideration.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Bible Dictionary

Conscience

that faculty of the mind, or inborn sense of right and wrong, by which we judge of the moral character of human conduct. It is common to all men. Like all our other faculties, it has been perverted by the Fall (John 16:2; Acts 26:9; Rom. 2:15). It is spoken of as "defiled" (Titus 1:15), and "seared" (1 Tim. 4:2). A "conscience void of offence" is to be sought and cultivated (Acts 24:16; Rom. 9:1; 2 Cor. 1:12; 1 Tim. 1:5, 19; 1 Pet. 3:21).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Idioms & Phrases

conscience

see have a clear conscience; in conscience.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Encyclopedia

conscience

a personal sense of the moral content of one's own conduct, intentions, or character with regard to a feeling of obligation to do right or be good. Conscience, usually informed by acculturation and instruction, is thus generally understood to give intuitively authoritative judgments regarding the moral quality of single actions

Learn more about conscience with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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