scrupulous

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: scru=pu=lous

CIDE DICTIONARY

scrupulous, a. [L. scrupulosus: cf. F. scrupuleux.].

•  Full of scruples; inclined to scruple; nicely doubtful; hesitating to determine or to act, from a fear of offending or of doing wrong.  [1913 Webster]

  "Abusing their liberty, to the offense of their weak brethren which were scrupulous."  [1913 Webster]
•  Careful; cautious; exact; nice; as, scrupulous abstinence from labor; scrupulous performance of duties.  [1913 Webster]
•  Given to making objections; captious.  [1913 Webster]

  "Equality of two domestic powers
  Breed scrupulous faction."  [1913 Webster]
•  Liable to be doubted; doubtful; nice.  [1913 Webster]

  "The justice of that cause ought to be evident; not obscure, not scrupulous."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Cautious; careful; conscientious; hesitating.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

scrupulous, adj.
1 conscientious or thorough even in small matters.
2 careful to avoid doing wrong.
3 punctilious; over-attentive to details.

Derivative

scrupulosity n. scrupulously adv. scrupulousness n.

Etymology

ME f. F scrupuleux or L scrupulosus (as SCRUPLE)

THESAURUS

scrupulous

Pyrrhonic, accurate, active, agnostic, analyze, attentive, bashful, boggling, canvass, careful, case, cautious, censorious, check over, check up, choicy, choosy, close, comb, compliant, con, conforming, conscientious, conscionable, consider, constant, contemplate, correct, critical, deferential, delicate, demanding, demurring, detailed, devoted, devout, diffident, dig into, discriminating, discriminative, dissect, distrustful, doubtful, doubting, dubious, duteous, dutiful, ethical, exact, exacting, examine, exigent, exquisite, eye, eyeball, fair-minded, faithful, faltering, fastidious, fine, finical, finicking, finicky, from Missouri, fussy, heedful, hesitant, hesitating, high-minded, honest, honorable, in doubt, inspect, just, leery, look over, loyal, methodical, meticulous, mindful, minute, mistrustful, mistrusting, modest, moral, narrow, neat, nice, obedient, observant, orderly, overconscientious, overlook, overscrupulous, painstaking, particular, penetrate, perfectionistic, perlustrate, peruse, picky, pierce, pore over, practicing, precious, precise, precisian, precisianistic, precisionist, precisionistic, priggish, principled, probe, prudish, punctilious, punctual, puristic, puritanic, qualmish, questioning, refined, regardful, religious, respectful, right, righteous, rigid, rigorous, scan, scrutinize, scrutinizing, selective, sensitive, severe, shrinking, shy, skeptical, squeamish, stickling, strict, study, subtle, survey, suspecting, suspicious, tender-conscienced, true, uncertain, untrusting, upstanding, vet, view, wary, watch, weigh

ROGET THESAURUS

scrupulous

Unwillingness

N unwillingness, indisposition, indisposedness, disinclination, aversation, nolleity, nolition, renitence, renitency, reluctance, indifference, backwardness, slowness, want of alacrity, want of readiness, indocility, scrupulousness, scrupulosity, qualms of conscience, twinge of conscience, delicacy, demur, scruple, qualm, shrinking, recoil, hesitation, fastidiousness, averseness, dissent, refusal, unwilling, not in the vein, loth, loath, shy of, disinclined, indisposed, averse, reluctant, not content, adverse, laggard, backward, remiss, slack, slow to, indifferent, scrupulous, squeamish, repugnant, restiff, restive, demurring, unconsenting, involuntary, unwillingly, grudgingly, with a heavy heart, with a bad, with an ill grace, against one's wishes, against one's will, against the grain, sore against one's wishes, sore against one's will, sore against one's grain, invita Minerva, a contre caeur, malgre soi, in spite of one's teeth, in spite of oneself, nolens volens, perforce, under protest, no, not for the world, far be it from me.

Fastidiousness

N fastidiousness, nicety, hypercriticism, difficulty in being pleased, friandise, epicurism, omnia suspendens naso, epicure, gourmet, prudery, fastidious, nice, delicate, delicat, finical, finicky, demanding, meticulous, exacting, strict, anal, difficult, dainty, lickerish, squeamish, thin-skinned, squeasy, queasy, hard to please, difficult to please, querulous, particular, straitlaced, scrupulous, censorious, hypercritical, overcritical, noli me tangere.

Probity

N probity, integrity, rectitude, uprightness, honesty, faith, honor, bonne foi, good faith, bona fides, purity, clean hands, fairness, fair play, justice, equity, impartiality, principle, even-handedness, grace, constancy, faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty, incorruption, incorruptibility, trustworthiness, truth, candor, singleness of heart, veracity, tender conscience, punctilio, delicacy, nicety, scrupulosity, scrupulousness, scruple, point, point of honor, punctuality, dignity, (repute), respectability, respectableness, gentilhomme, gentleman, man of honor, man of his word, fidus Achates, preux chevalier, galantuomo, truepenny, trump, brick, true Briton, white man, court of honor, a fair field and no favor, argumentum ad verecundiam, upright, honest, honest as daylight, veracious, virtuous, honorable, fair, right, just, equitable, impartial, evenhanded, square, fair and aboveboard, open and aboveboard, white, constant, constant as the northern star, faithful, loyal, staunch, true, true blue, true to one's colors, true to the core, true as the needle to the pole, marble-constant, true- hearted, trusty, trustworthy, as good as one's word, to be depended on, incorruptible, straightforward, frank, candid, open-hearted, conscientious, tender-conscienced, right-minded, high-principled, high-minded, scrupulous, religious, strict, nice, punctilious, correct, punctual, respectable, reputable, gentlemanlike, inviolable, inviolate, unviolated, unbroken, unbetrayed, unbought, unbribed, innocent, pure, stainless, unstained, untarnished, unsullied, untainted, unperjured, uncorrupt, uncorrupted, undefiled, undepraved, undebauched, integer vitae scelerisque purus, justus et tenax propositi, chivalrous, jealous of honor, sans peur et sans reproche, high-spirited, supramundane, unworldly, other-worldly, overscrupulous, honorable, bona fide, on the square, in good faith, honor bright, foro conscientiae, with clean hands, a face untaught to feign, bene qui latuit bene vixit, mens sibi conscia recti, probitas laudatur et alget, fidelis ad urnam, his heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth, loyaute m'oblige, loyaute n'a honte, what stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?.

Care

N care, solicitude, heed, heedfulness, scruple, watchfulness, vigilance, surveillance, eyes of Argus, watch, vigil, look out, watch and ward, loeil du maitre, alertness, attention, prudence &c, circumspection, anxiety, forethought, precaution, tidiness accuracy, minuteness, attention to detail, careful regardful, heedful, taking care, particular, prudent, considerate, thoughtful, provident, alert, sure-footed, guarded, on one's guard, on the qui vivre, on the alert, on watch, on the lookout, awake, broad awake, vigilant, watchful, wakeful, wistful, Argus-eyed, wide awake, on the watch for (expectant), tidy accurate, scrupulous, cavendo tutus, carefully, with care, gingerly, quis custodiet istos custodes?, who will watch the watchers?, care will kill a cat, ni bebas agua que no veas, O polished perturbation! Golden care!, the incessant care and labor of his mind.

Incredulity

N incredulousness, incredulity, skepticism, pyrrhonism, want of faith, suspiciousness, scrupulosity, suspicion, mistrust, cynicism, unbeliever, skeptic, cynic, misbeliever, pyrrhonist, heretic, incredulous, skeptical, unbelieving, inconvincible, hard of belief, shy of belief, disposed to doubt, indisposed to believe, suspicious, scrupulous, distrustful, cynical.

Truth

N truth, fact, reality, plain fact, plain matter of fact, nature, truth, verity, gospel, gospel truth, God's honest truth, orthodoxy, authenticity, veracity, correctness, correctitude, accuracy, exactitude, exactness, preciseness, precision, delicacy, rigor, mathematical precision, punctuality, clockwork precision, conformity to rule, nicety, orthology, ipsissima verba, realism, plain truth, honest truth, sober truth, naked truth, unalloyed truth, unqualified truth, stern truth, exact truth, intrinsic truth, nuda veritas, the very thing, not an illusion, real Simon Pure, unvarnished tale, unvarnished truth, the truth the whole truth and nothing but the trut, just the thing, real, actual, veritable, true, right, correct, certain, substantially true, categorically true, definitively true, true to the letter, true as gospel, unimpeachable, veracious, unreconfuted, unconfuted, unideal, unimagined, realistic, exact, accurate, definite, precise, well-defined, just, just so, so, strict, severe, close, literal, rigid, rigorous, scrupulous, religiously exact, punctual, mathematical, scientific, faithful, constant, unerring, curious, particular, nice, delicate, fine, clean-cut, clear-cut, verified, empirically true, experimentally verified, substantiated, proven (demonstrated), rigorously true, unquestionably true, true by definition, genuine, authentic, legitimate, orthodox, official, ex officio, pure, natural, sound, sterling, unsophisticated, unadulterated, unvarnished, unalloyed, uncolored, in its true colors, pukka, well-grounded, well founded, solid, substantial, tangible, valid, undistorted, undisguised, unaffected, unexaggerated, unromantic, unflattering, truly, verily, indeed, really, in reality, with truth, certainly, actually, in effect, exactly, ad amussim, verbatim, verbatim et literatim, word for word, literally, literatim, totidem vervis, sic, to the letter, chapter and verse, ipsissimis verbis, ad unguem, to an inch, to a nicety, to a hair, to a tittle, to a turn, to a T, au pied de la lettre, neither more nor less, in every respect, in all respects, sous tous les rapports, at any rate, at all events, strictly speaking, the truth is, the fact is, rem acu tetigisti, en suivant la verite, ex facto jus oritur, la verita e figlia del empo, locos y ninos dicen la verdad, crazy people and children tell the truth, nihil est veritatis luce dulcius, veritas nunquam perit, veritatem dies aperit, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, just the facts, ma'am, just the facts.

Veracity

N veracity, truthfulness, frankness truth, sincerity, candor, unreserve, honesty, fidelity, plain dealing, bona fides, love of truth, probity, ingenuousness, the truth the whole truth and nothing but the trut, honest truth, sober truth, unvarnished tale, light of truth, truthful, true, veracious, veridical, scrupulous, sincere, candid, frank, open, straightforward, unreserved, open hearted, true hearted, simple-hearted, honest, trustworthy, undissembling &c (dissemble), guileless, pure, truth- loving, unperjured, true blue, as good as one's word, unaffected, unfeigned, bona fide, outspoken, ingenuous, undisguised, uncontrived, truly, in plain words, in truth, with truth, of a truth, in good truth, as the dial to the sun, as the needle to the pole, honor bright, troth, in good sooth, in good earnest, unfeignedly, with no nonsense, in sooth, sooth to say, bona fide, in foro conscientiae, without equivocation, cartes sur table, from the bottom of one's heart, by my troth, di il vero a affronterai il diavolo, Dichtung und Wahrheit, esto quod esse videris, magna est veritas et praevalet, that golden key that opes the palace of eternity, veritas odium parit, veritatis simplex oratio est, verite sans peur.