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qualm
5 dictionary results for: qualm
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
qualm       [kwahm, kwawm] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.an uneasy feeling or pang of conscience as to conduct; compunction: He has no qualms about lying.
2.a sudden feeling of apprehensive uneasiness; misgiving: a sudden qualm about the success of the venture.
3.a sudden sensation or onset of faintness or illness, esp. of nausea.
[Origin: 1520–30; orig. uncert.]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
qualm       (kwäm, kwôm)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. A sudden feeling of sickness, faintness, or nausea.
  2. A sudden disturbing feeling: qualms of homesickness.
  3. An uneasy feeling about the propriety or rightness of a course of action.


[Origin unknown.]

qualm'ish adj., qualm'ish·ly adv.
Synonyms: These nouns denote a feeling of uncertainty about the fitness or correctness of an action. Qualm is a disturbing feeling of uneasiness and self-doubt: "an ignorant ruffianly gaucho, who . . . would . . . fight, steal, and do other naughty things without a qualm" (W.H. Hudson).
Scruple is an uneasy feeling arising from conscience or principle about a course of action: "My father's old-fashioned notions boggled a little at first to this arrangement . . . but his scruples were in the end overruled" (John Galt).
Compunction implies a prick or twinge of conscience aroused by wrongdoing or the prospect of wrongdoing: stole the money without compunction.
Misgiving suggests often sudden apprehension: had misgivings about quitting his job.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
qualm 
O.E. cwealm (W.Saxon) "death, disaster, plague," utcualm (Anglian) "utter destruction," related to cwellan "to kill," cwelan "to die" (see quell). Sense softened to "feeling of faintness" 1530; meaning "uneasiness, doubt" is from 1553; that of "scruple of conscience" is 1649. A direct connection between the O.E. and modern senses is wanting, but it is nonetheless plausible, via the notion of "fit of sickness." The other suggested etymology, less satisfying, is from Du. kwalm "steam, vapor, mist," which also may be ult. from the same Gmc. root as quell.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
qualm

noun
1. uneasiness about the fitness of an action [syn: scruple] 
2. a mild state of nausea [syn: queasiness] 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Qualm

Qualm\, n. [AS. cwealm death, slaughter, pestilence, akin to OS. & OHG. qualm. See Quail to cower.]

1. Sickness; disease; pestilence; death. [Obs.]

thousand slain and not of qualm ystorve [dead]. --Chaucer.

2. A sudden attack of illness, faintness, or pain; an agony. " Qualms of heartsick agony." --Milton.

3. Especially, a sudden sensation of nausea.

For who, without a qualm, hath ever looked On holy garbage, though by Homer cooked? --Roscommon.

4. A prick or scruple of conscience; uneasiness of conscience; compunction. --Dryden.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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