Compunction vs Rue - What's the difference?
compunction | rue |
A pricking of conscience or a feeling of regret, especially one which is slight or fleeting.
* :
* 1897 , , Dracula , ch. 3:
* 1920 , , Women in Love , ch. 8:
* 2003 February 16, Blaine Greteman, "
(archaic, or, dialectal) Sorrow; repentance; regret.
(archaic, or, dialectal) Pity; compassion.
(obsolete) To cause to repent of sin or regret some past action.
(obsolete) To cause to feel sorrow or pity.
To repent of or regret (some past action or event); to wish that a past action or event had not taken place.
* (rfdate) Chapman
* (rfdate) Milton
(archaic) To feel compassion or pity.
* Late 14th century Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Franklin's Tale’, Canterbury Tales
* (rfdate) Ridley
(archaic) To feel sorrow or regret.
* (rfdate) Tennyson
Any of various perennial shrubs of the genus Ruta , especially the herb , formerly used in medicines.
* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.2:
* c. 1600 , (William Shakespeare), , (Ophelia):
As nouns the difference between compunction and rue
is that compunction is a pricking of conscience or a feeling of regret, especially one which is slight or fleeting while rue is sorrow; repentance; regret.As a verb rue is
to cause to repent of sin or regret some past action.compunction
English
Noun
(en noun)- [H]e would have had no compunction whatever in flinging him out of the highest window in Venice into the deepest water of the city.
- I felt no compunction in doing so, for under the circumstances I felt that I should protect myself in every way I could.
- But he felt, later, a little compunction . He had been violent, cruel with poor Hermione. He wanted to recompense her, to make it up.
No Peace Dividend," Time :
- As for average U.S. consumers, they've shown little compunction about buying diamonds that fund bloody militias in Africa.
Synonyms
* regret, remorse, qualm * See alsoSee also
* contrition * penitence, penance * guiltrue
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) rewe, reowe, from (etyl) .Noun
(-)Derived terms
* rueful * ruthEtymology 2
(etyl) , from Germanic. Cognate with Dutch rouwen, German reuen.Verb
- I rued the day I crossed paths with her.
- I wept to see, and rued it from my heart.
- Thy will chose freely what it now so justly rues .
- Madame, reweth upon my peynes smerte
- which stirred men's hearts to rue upon them
- Old year, we'll dearly rue for you.
Usage notes
Most frequently used in the collocation “rue the day”.Etymology 3
(wikipedia rue) From (etyl) ruwe, (etyl) rue (> modern French rue), from (etyl) . Compare (rude).Noun
(en noun)- But th'aged Nourse, her calling to her bowre, / Had gathered Rew , and Savine, and the flowre / Of Camphora, and Calamint, and Dill [...].
- There’s fennel for you, and columbines: there’s rue''' for you; and here’s some for me: we may call it herb-grace o' Sundays: O you must wear your ' rue with a difference.
