Conscience
nounThe inner sense that tells a person what is morally right or wrong and prompts feelings of guilt or approval.
How to spell conscience
10 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce conscience
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does conscience mean?
- nounThe inner sense that tells a person what is morally right or wrong and prompts feelings of guilt or approval.
Conscience in a sentence
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My conscience wouldn't let me lie.
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She has a clear conscience.
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His conscience was troubled by the lie.
Where does conscience come from?
Language of origin: Latin
This word comes from the Latin conscientia, which literally meant 'knowing things together with others' or 'shared knowledge', and later 'inward knowledge of right and wrong'. It was built from con- meaning 'with' and the verb scire meaning 'to know', the same root that gives us 'science' and 'omniscient'. The sense narrowed over time to the private moral awareness a person holds within themselves. English borrowed it through Old French conscience in the 1200s, originally in religious writing about the soul's awareness of sin. The hidden 'sci' spelling, pronounced like 'sh', is the classic trap: the word keeps the same scire root as 'science', so remembering that link preserves the awkward 'sci' in the middle.
How the word is built
- con- (with, together)
- sci (from scire: to know)
- -ence (noun suffix)
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