From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishscruplescru‧ple1 /ˈskruːpəl/ noun [countable usually plural, uncountable] GOOD/MORALa belief about what is right and wrong that prevents you from doing bad things → qualmscruples about doing something He had no scruples about selling faulty goods to people. a man with no moral scrupleswithout scruple They made thousands of families homeless without scruple.
Examples from the Corpus
scruple• He had a steely streak but his morals and scruples were beyond reproach.• In the rush not to be left behind, scruples about starvation and labour camps are forgotten.• She refused his advances and confounded a multitude of scholars assembled by him to overcome her scruples.• He overcame his scruples and by 1846 took thirty-five wives, eight of them widows of Joseph Smith.• They are passive, we are told; moral scruples don't come into it.• I respect your scruple, scour; but in this case I believe true delicacy requires you to do as I ask.had ... scruples• He could not say that he had scruples of conscience for not joining in the military training.• Crell in particular had no scruples about playing on his countrymen's cultural nationalism for the development of the fatherland's chemistry.• But when the celebs paraded for Reagan 20 years ago, Republicans had no such scruples.scruplescruple2 verb → not scruple to do something→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
scruple• Dumont does not scruple to show the naked corpse, left on the edge of a ploughed field.Origin scruple1 (1400-1500) Old French scrupule, from Latin scrupulus “small sharp stone, cause of mental discomfort”, from scrupus “sharp stone” 