1
as in specks
a very small amount
went about her business without even a scruple of suspicion
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Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in particles
a very small piece
left just a scruple of asparagus on the plate
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in doubts
an uneasy feeling about the rightness of what one is doing or going to do
the survey showed that many students had few scruples about cheating on papers or exams
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as in hesitates
to show uncertainty about the right course of action
a tabloid journalist who has never scrupled to reveal the most intimate details about the lives of celebrities
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of scruples
Krista Kafer, Denver Post, 31 Dec. 2025
For Jay Gatsby, a man of immense wealth and few scruples, almost nothing is beyond his voracious appetite for excess.
—David Lyman, Cincinnati Enquirer, 30 Oct. 2025
Luckily Florida has no such scruples.
—Miami Herald, 13 Oct. 2025
Incensed at being outsmarted, the CEO of Weyland-Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindive) allows one of her employees, a cyborg with very few scruples named Morrow (Babou Ceesay), to use any means necessary to reacquire the biological specimens.
—Josh Weiss, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
At this point in its history, the theory goes, the United States requires a willful and largely unaccountable power to impose changes that leaders with more delicate sensibilities and procedural scruples cannot ever accomplish.
—Russell Muirhead, Foreign Affairs, 5 Sep. 2025
This film for me is about morals and scruples and what people will do or won’t do for money.
—Zak Cheney-Rice, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2025
Mitevska clearly has no such scruples.
—Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 27 Aug. 2025
Noun
Mainstream Republicans and right-leaning unaffiliated voters will gravitate to candidates with experience and scruples.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for scruples
Verb
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The Broncos’ wide receivers had four drops in the first half, and BSU failed twice on fourth down when going for it, something Danielson seldom hesitates to do.—
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In the final scene, Lee hesitates for a moment before letting Stella choose.—
Verb
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Brown is likely a lock unless his usual consistency falters in the long program on Saturday.—
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Even when Cregger holds his mythology deceptively close to the chest, the emotional intrigue never falters in the wake of a mass disappearance that saw more than 30 local children disappear.—
Cite this Entry
“Scruples.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scruples. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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