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qualms

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qualm

[kwahm, kwawm]
–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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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qualm   (kwäm, kwôm)   
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.
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

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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