conscience
part of speech
noun (a conscience, consciences)
meaning for a pupil
1) The feeling or inner voice inside you that tells you what is right and wrong, and makes you feel bad when you do wrong. tree →
2) (church, ethics) Christians and many others believe the conscience helps us know God's law; they examine their conscience before confession. tree →
3) «In all conscience» (formal) means «honestly, fairly». tree →
sense in the lessons
In ethics lessons pupils learn to listen to their conscience; a «guilty conscience» makes you feel bad after doing wrong, a «clear conscience» means you have done nothing wrong. In stories Jiminy Cricket is Pinocchio's conscience. Phrases: «guilty conscience», «clear conscience», «prick of conscience», «on your conscience», «conscience-stricken», «examine your conscience».
examples
- My conscience told me to give the money back. tree →
- He had a guilty conscience after lying to his mum. tree →
- She went to bed with a clear conscience. tree →
- Jiminy Cricket was Pinocchio's conscience. tree →
- Before confession, Catholics examine their conscience. tree →
- His conscience was bothering him, so he said sorry. tree →
- I couldn't, in all conscience, take the last cake. tree →
- ‘You must really have another little sin on your conscience. tree →
note
Spelling trap: con-science (like «science»). Pronounced KON-shuns. Do not confuse with «conscious» (awake, aware) or «consciousness». Adjective: conscientious (hard-working and careful).
In the corpora
- «Ancient», «conscience» and «conscious» spell a /sh/ sound with ci or sci.
- A guilty conscience, like not sleeping or not looking someone in the eye, is a sign that something needs putting right.
- Her conscience bit until she told the teacher and took the test again at lunch.
- Guilt is the conscience working; it is a sign you know what is right, not proof you are a bad person.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «conscience» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.