compunctious

adjective

Definition of compunctiousnext
as in ashamed
feeling sorrow for a wrong that one has done he appeared not the least bit compunctious about ditching his friends at the restaurant and leaving them to pay the bill

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for compunctious
  1. ashamed
  2. sorry
  3. remorseful
  4. apologetic
  5. regretful
Adjective
  • When parents don’t replicate these behaviors in real life, kids might feel disappointed or even ashamed.
    Holly Garcia, Parents, 5 Dec. 2024
  • Justice was not served in this case and Joe Biden should be ashamed.
    Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press, 2 Dec. 2024
Definition of ashamed
Adjective
  • Even his fellow prolific contemporaries don’t have a bar so high — sorry, Ridley Scott.
    Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 9 Dec. 2024
  • Under the heading of ‘better safe than sorry,’ a few businesses had already taken precautions to safeguard their executives.
    Edward Segal, Forbes, 8 Dec. 2024
Definition of sorry
Adjective
  • Higgins no longer drinks, and has been remorseful since she was first taken into custody, Gipson-McLean said.
    Stacey Barchenger, The Arizona Republic, 4 Dec. 2024
  • When deputies showed up at his home, Colin Gray did not appear remorseful, Ward testified.
    Devon M. Sayers, CNN, 22 Oct. 2024
Definition of remorseful
Adjective
  • Plus, apologetic memories of her dead European mother.
    Armond White, National Review, 13 Dec. 2024
  • While apologetic about how vendors have been treated, the executives urged them to stick with Saks and Saks Off 5th, and expressed extreme confidence that the deal to buy the Neiman Marcus Group would soon close, ultimately benefiting — and not hurting — them.
    David Moin, WWD, 11 Dec. 2024
Definition of apologetic
Adjective
  • A day later, Harbaugh wasn’t so much as regretful as he was discontented.
    Brian Wacker, Baltimore Sun, 18 Nov. 2024
  • He's earned this opportunity by growing into what appears to be a good young man after being, like many of us, a youth full of regretful decisions.
    Phil Hay, The Athletic, 3 Aug. 2024
Definition of regretful
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Podcast

Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP

Thesaurus Entries Near compunctious

compunctions

compunctious

compurgation

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Compunctious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/compunctious. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.

Copy Citation

Share

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See All

Point of View: It's Personal

Plural and Possessive Names: A Guide

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Words You Always Have to Look Up
See All

Popular in Wordplay

See All

More Words with Remarkable Origins

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments

Birds Say the Darndest Things

10 Words from Taylor Swift Songs (Merriam's Version)

10 Scrabble Words Without Any Vowels
See All

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
confused man standing between two doors
One Word or Two? Take the Quiz! Some words just need a little space.