| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | moral sense |
| Synonyms: | censor, compunction, demur, duty, inner voice, morals, principles, qualms, right and wrong, scruples, shame, small voice, squeam, still small voice, superego |
| Notes: | conscience is the noun meaning 'a sense of right and wrong' while conscious is the adjective meaning 'aware of something, being awake' |
| Antonyms: | immorality |
| Main Entry: | compunction |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | regret, sorrow |
| Synonyms: | attrition, conscience, contrition, misgiving, penitence, penitency, pity, punctiliousness, qualm, reluctance, remorse, repentance, rue, ruth, second thoughts, shame, stab of conscience, sympathy |
| Antonyms: | defiance, meanness, no remorse |
| Main Entry: | duty |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | moral obligation |
| Synonyms: | accountability, accountableness, allegiance, amenability, answerability, burden, call of duty, charge, conscience, deference, devoir, faithfulness, good faith, honesty, integrity, liability, loyalty, obedience, pledge, respect, reverence |
| Antonyms: | faithlessness, inconstancy, treachery |
| Main Entry: | ethics/ethic |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | moral philosophy, values |
| Synonyms: | belief, conduct, conscience, convention, conventionalities, criteria, decency, ethos, goodness, honesty, honor, ideal, imperative, integrity, moral code, morality, mores, natural law, nature, practice, principles, right and wrong, rules of conduct, standard, standards, the Golden Rule |
| Antonyms: | corruption, immorality |
| Main Entry: | obligation |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | responsibility |
| Synonyms: | IOU, accountability, accountableness, agreement, bond, burden, business, call, cause, charge, chit, commitment, committal, compulsion, conscience, constraint, contract, debit, debt, devoir, due bill, dues, duty, engagement, liability, must, necessity, need, occasion, onus, ought, part, place, promise, requirement, restraint, right, trust, understanding |
| Main Entry: | principle/principles |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | belief, morality; morals |
| Synonyms: | attitude, character, code, conduct, conscience, credo, ethic, ethics, faith, ideals, integrity, opinion, policy, probity, rectitude, scruples, sense of duty, sense of honor, system, teaching, tenet, uprightness |
| Antonyms: | immorality, unethicalness |
| Main Entry: | qualm |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | nagging doubt |
| Synonyms: | agitation, anxiety, apprehension, compunction, conscience, demur, disquiet, foreboding, hesitation, indecision, insecurity, misdoubt, misgiving, mistrust, nervousness, objection, pang, perturbation, presentiment, regret, reluctance, remonstrance, remorse, scruple, suspicion, twinge, uncertainty, unease, uneasiness |
| Antonyms: | approval, comfort, contentedness |
| Main Entry: | regret |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | upset over past action |
| Synonyms: | affliction, anguish, annoyance, apologies, apology, bitterness, care, compunction, concern, conscience, contrition, demur, disappointment, discomfort, dissatisfaction, dole, grief, heartache, heartbreak, lamentation, misgiving, nostalgia, pang, penitence, qualm, regretfulness, remorse, repentance, ruefulness, scruple, self-accusation, self-condemnation, self-disgust, self-reproach, sorrow, uneasiness, woe, worry |
| Notes: | regret carries no explicit admission that one is responsible for an incident, while remorse implies a sense of guilty responsibility and a greater feeling of personal pain and anguish |
| Antonyms: | contentedness, happiness, satisfaction |
| Main Entry: | repentance |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | feeling bad for past action |
| Synonyms: | attrition, compunction, conscience, contriteness, contrition, grief, guilt, penitence, penitency, regret, remorse, rue, ruth, self-reproach, sorriness, sorrow |
| Antonyms: | happiness |