conscience
n. C / Un. the inner feeling that tells you if your actions are right or wrong. It is like a moral compass that makes you feel guilty when you do something bad.
n. the internal sense of moral rightness or wrongness that governs an individual's conduct. Often personified in literature as an internal voice or guide.
He has a clear conscience because he always tells the truth.
She could not in good conscience accept the promotion knowing her colleague deserved it more.
The protagonist's struggle with his conscience forms the central conflict of the novel, as he weighs personal gain against his deep-seated ethical principles.
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”).
Commonly used in the phrases 'in good conscience' or 'a guilty conscience'. When used as a countable noun, it refers to the moral sense of a specific person.
He lost his conscious.He lost his conscience.Learners often confuse the noun 'conscience' (moral sense) with the adjective 'conscious' (awake/aware) or the noun 'consciousness'.