conscience
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
the part of your mind that makes you feel guilty when you do something wrong.
the internal faculty that distinguishes right from wrong, often acting as a guide for ethical behaviour.
Simple“His conscience bothered him for days after he lied to his best friend.”
In context“The whistleblower acted out of a sense of conscience, choosing to expose the corruption despite the potential risk to his career.”
UsageOften used with adjectives like 'guilty', 'clear', or 'troubled'.
PitfallHe was not conscious of his conscience. He had a guilty conscience.Do not confuse the noun 'conscience' (moral sense) with the adjective 'conscious' (awake/aware).
Antonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
an imaginary voice or person that represents your sense of right and wrong.
the personification of the moral sense, frequently depicted in literature or media as an external voice or figure.
Simple“In the movie, a small character sits on his shoulder acting as his conscience.”
In context“The protagonist's conscience is represented by a recurring spectral figure that challenges his increasingly unethical decisions.”
Synonymsinner voice - 03 C2 Proficiency
an old-fashioned way to say 'consciousness' or being aware of something.
the state of being aware or conscious of one's own thoughts or surroundings.
Simple“The old book spoke of a man losing his conscience of the world around him.”
In context“In this archaic context, the term refers not to morality but to the simple conscience of one's own existence.”
UsageFound primarily in historical texts or classical literature.
Synonyms
conscience vs conscious — Conscious is the state of being awake or aware; conscience is the internal moral compass that judges right from wrong.
“Publisher Joseph Pulitzer once declared his dreams for his readership were “to arrest their attention, enlist their sympathy … stimulate their imagination, convince their reason, and awaken their conscience”.”
“A decade later Amnesty International estimated more than 600 prisoners of conscience in the USSR.”
From Middle English conscience, from Old French conscience, from Latin conscientia (“knowledge within oneself”), from consciens, present participle of conscire (“to know, to be conscious (of wrong)”), from com- (“together”) + scire (“to know”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.