Scruple

Noun

 * 1)  A weight of twenty grains; the third part of a dram.
 * 2)  Hence, a very small quantity; a particle.
 * 3) * Ca 1601–1608, Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II Scene 3 221–222
 * Paroles: I have not, my lord, deserved it. Lafeu: Yes, good faith, ev'ry dram of it, and I will not bate thee a scruple.
 * 1) Hesitation as to action from the difficulty of determining what is right or expedient; unwillingness, doubt, or hesitation proceeding from motives of conscience; to consider if something is ethical.
 * He was made miserable by the conflict between his tastes and his scruples. - Thomas Babington Macaulay.
 * 1)  A doubt or uncertainty concerning a matter of fact; intellectual perplexity.

Verb

 * 1)  To be reluctant or to hesitate, as regards an action, on account of considerations of conscience or expedience.
 * We are often over-precise, scrupling to say or do those things which lawfully we may. - Thomas Fuller.
 * Men scruple at the lawfulness of a set form of divine worship. - Robert South.
 * 1) To regard with suspicion; to hesitate at; to question.
 * Others long before them ... scrupled more the books of hereties than of gentiles. - John Milton.
 * 1)  To doubt; to question; to hesitate to believe; to question the truth of (a fact, etc.).
 * I do not scruple to admit that all the Earth seeth but only half of the Moon.
 * 1) To excite scruples in; to cause to scruple.
 * Letters which did still scruple many of them. -E. Symmons.

Thesaurus
Pyrrhonism, ace, apprehension, atom, awake a doubt, back down, balance, balk, balk at, bashfulness, be diffident, be doubtful, be dubious, be skeptical, be uncertain, beef, better self, bit, bitch, blench, boggle, boggling, boycott, call in question, challenge, complain, complaint, compunction, conscience, conscientiousness, contest, cry out against, dab, debate, deliberate, demonstrate, demonstrate against, demonstration, demur, demurral, demurrer, diffidence, discomfort, dispute, distrust, distrustfulness, dole, dot, doubt, doubtfulness, dram, dribble, driblet, dubiety, dubiousness, dwarf, enter a protest, exception, expostulate, expostulation, falter, faltering, farthing, fastidiousness, fear, fight shy of, fleck, flinch, flyspeck, fragment, fret, gag, gobbet, grain, granule, greet with skepticism, grievance, grievance committee, groat, hair, half believe, half-belief, handful, hang back, hang off, harbor suspicions, have qualms, have reservations, hem and haw, hesitance, hesitancy, hesitate, hesitation, hold off, holler, hover, howl, hum and haw, indignation meeting, iota, jib, jot, kick, leeriness, little, little bit, lota, make bones about, march, meticulousness, minim, minimum, minutiae, misdoubt, misgive, misgiving, mistrust, mistrustfulness, mite, modesty, modicum, molecule, mote, nonviolent protest, nutshell, object, objection, ounce, overconscientiousness, overscrupulousness, pangs, pangs of conscience, particle, pause, pebble, picket, picketing, pinch, pittance, point, point of honor, ponder, press objections, pricking of heart, protest, protest demonstration, protestation, pull back, punctilio, punctiliousness, quail, qualm, qualm of conscience, qualmishness, qualms, query, question, raise a howl, raise a question, rally, recoil, reconsideration, reluctance, remonstrance, remonstrate, remonstration, retreat, scrap, scruples, scrupulosity, scrupulousness, second thought, second thoughts, self-doubt, shadow of doubt, shilly-shally, shred, shrink, shrink from, shrinking, shy, shy at, shyness, sit in, sit-in, skepticalness, skepticism, smell a rat, smidgen, smitch, speck, spoonful, spot, squawk, squeamishness, state a grievance, stick, stick at, stickle, stickling, stop to consider, straddle the fence, strain, strain at, strike, stumble, suspect, suspicion, suspiciousness, teach in, teach-in, thimbleful, think twice about, throes, throw doubt upon, tiny bit, tittle, total skepticism, touch of conscience, treat with reserve, trifling amount, trivia, twinge of conscience, uncertainty, uneasiness, vacillate, voice of conscience, wariness, waver, whit, wince, withdraw, worry, yell bloody murder, yield

Etymology
From scrupulus:, diminutive of scrupus:; perhaps akin to  σκύρος:, ξυρόν:,  क्षुर:: compare  scrupule.

Verb

 * Croatian: skrupula
 * Portuguese:


 * Russian: стесняться, совеститься, не решаться
 * Spanish:

Anagrams

 * curples