# conscience
## English

Wikiquote

### Etymology

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”).

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈkɒn.ʃəns/, /ˈkɒn.tʃəns/
* (US) IPA: /ˈkɑn.ʃəns/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Noun

conscience (countable and uncountable, plural consciences)
* The ethical or moral sense of right and wrong, chiefly as it affects a person’s own behaviour and forms their attitude to their past actions.
    Your conscience is your highest authority.
** 1949, Albert Einstein, as quoted by Virgil Henshaw in Albert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist,
    Never do anything against conscience, even if the state demands it.
** 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 159:As for Grierson, he poured liquor into himself as if it were so much soothing syrup, demonstrating that a good digestion is the highest form of good conscience.
** 1951, Isaac Asimov, Foundation, Panther Books Ltd, published 1974, part V: The Merchant Princes, chapter 14, page 175:[“]Twer is not a friend of mine testifying against me reluctantly and for conscience’ sake, as the prosecution would have you believe. He is a spy, performing his paid job.[”]
** 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […] ? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?
* (chiefly fiction, narratology) A personification of the moral sense of right and wrong, usually in the form of a person, a being or merely a voice that gives moral lessons and advices.
* (obsolete) Consciousness; thinking; awareness, especially self-awareness.
** c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.

#### Derived terms

* a good conscience is a soft pillow
* bad conscience
* conscience clause
* conscienced
* conscienceless
* consciencelike
* conscience money
* conscience-money
* conscience-proof
* conscience round
* conscience vote
* consciencewise
* consciencism
* consciencist
* conscientious
* examination of conscience
* exile of conscience
* freedom of conscience
* guilty conscience
* in all conscience
* in conscience
* in good conscience
* liberty of conscience
* make conscience
* my conscience
* of all conscience
* on one's conscience
* pang of conscience
* prisoner of conscience
* pseudoconscience
* speak one's conscience
* unconscienced

#### Related terms

* conscientious
* conscientiously
* conscientiousness
* conscionable
* consciousness

#### Collocations

* good, bad, guilty. A good conscience is one free from guilt, a bad conscience the opposite.

#### Collocations

* for reasons of conscience, to make a matter of conscience, the dictates of one's conscience

#### Translations
### See also

* synteresis

### Further reading

* “conscience”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “conscience”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

## French
### Etymology

Inherited from Old French conscience, borrowed from Latin cōnscientia (“knowledge within oneself”), from consciens, present participle of conscire (“to know, to be conscious (of wrong)”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kɔ̃.sjɑ̃s/
* Audio (Paris):(file)
* Homophone: consciences
* Hyphenation: con‧science

### Noun

conscience f (plural consciences)
* conscience
* consciousness

#### Antonyms

* inconscience

#### Derived terms

* avoir la conscience tranquille
* avoir sur la conscience
* cas de conscience
* consciencieux
* directeur de conscience
* en son âme et conscience
* examen de conscience
* objecteur de conscience
* par acquit de conscience
* prendre conscience
* prise de conscience

#### Related terms

* conscient
* science

### Further reading

* “conscience”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* consience, conciens

### Etymology

Borrowed from Old French conscience, from Latin conscientia (“knowledge within oneself”).

### Noun

conscience (plural consciences)
* conscience

#### Descendants

* English: conscience
* Yola: coshes, coshe, cosh
* → Irish: coinsias

#### References

* “conscience, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

## Old French
### Alternative forms

* cunscience (Anglo-Norman)

### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin conscientia (“knowledge within oneself”).

### Noun

conscience oblique singular, f (oblique plural consciences, nominative singular conscience, nominative plural consciences)
* conscience
    la conscience ne remort point a ces riches hommethe conscience doesn't bite these rich men

#### Descendants

* French: conscience
* → Middle English: conscience, consience, conciens
** English: conscience
** Yola: coshes, coshe, cosh
** → Irish: coinsias