Word of the Day for Wednesday, August 9, 2006

compunction \kuhm-PUHNK-shuhn\, noun: 1. Anxiety or deep unease proceeding from a sense of guilt or consciousness of causing pain. 2. A sting of conscience or a twinge of uneasiness; a qualm; a scruple.

Not only were tears one means of prayer, according to Benedict, they were the only pure form: "We must know that God regards our purity of heart and tears of compunction, not our many words." -- Tom Lutz, Crying Yet, while Louise and Ruth and I and all our ilk are consumed by self-reproach, these two can recall not an ounce of compunction. -- Rose Shepherd, "Fatal egg by pleasure laid", Independent, September 3, 1996 If they succeeded, however, Sicily would simply come under the authority of the new revolutionary government in Naples, a government that would feel no compunctions whatsoever about saddling the island with even more "stamp duties, official papers, and forced labor" than before. -- James Fentress, Rebels and Mafiosi I would reveal all without compunction because he is after all, my ex. -- Karen Karbo, Generation Ex

Compunction derives from Late Latin compunctio, compunction-, "sting or pricking of conscience," from the past participle of compungere, "to prick severely," from com-, intensive prefix + pungere, "to prick." Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for compunction