# conscience

Pronunciation: say "KON-shuhns" US /ˈkɑn.ʃəns/, UK /ˈkɒn.ʃəns/

## Noun

1. A person's inner sense of right and wrong, especially as it shapes how they judge their own behavior and past actions.
   - Simple: The inner sense that tells you when something you do is right or wrong.
   - _His conscience would not let him keep the extra change the cashier had mistakenly given him._
   - _After weeks of guilt, her conscience finally pushed her to confess what she had done._
2. A personification of the moral sense of right and wrong, often appearing as a character, a being, or simply a voice that offers moral guidance.
   - Simple: A character or voice in a story that stands for right and wrong and gives moral advice.
   - _Throughout the play, the hero's conscience appears as a hooded figure who questions each of his choices._
   - _The novel personifies her conscience as a quiet voice that grows louder whenever she strays from doing good._

## Noun

3. The faculty of consciousness or thinking; awareness, especially a person's awareness of their own self. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The state of being aware of things, especially of your own thoughts and self.

## Origin

This word came into Middle English from Old French conscience, from Latin conscientia ("knowledge within oneself"). That noun derives from conscire ("to know, to be conscious of wrong"), formed from com- ("together") plus scire ("to know").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/conscience (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).