Meanings
plural qualms · alternative dialectal calm
- A feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear etc.First known use 16th c.
"Do you have any particular qualms about leaving Pencey?" / "Oh, I have a few qualms, all right. Sure … but not too many. Not yet, anyway.[…]"
1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 194 more examples
[W]ho vvould not rather Sleep Quietly upon a Hammock, vvithout either Cares in his Head, or Crudities in his Stomach, then lye Carking upon a Bed of State, vvith the Qualms and Tvvinges that accompany Surfeits and Exceſs?
1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[Miscellany Fables.] Fab[le] CCCLXXXIII. A Spider and the Gout [Reflexion].”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 355Jem’s face showed brief indecision on the ethics of withholding his own dime, but his innate courtesy won and he shifted his dime to his pocket. I did likewise with no qualms.
1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLCOpponents of those privatization plans hoped to use Mr. [Neil] Armstrong's qualms as ammunition to block the White House initiatives, and they asked for more public statements.
2012 August 25, Andy Pasztor, “Armstrong, first man on Moon, dies”, in The Wall Street Journal, New York, N.Y.: Dow Jones & Company, →ISSN, →OCLCQuestions of bad taste have hung around Dear Evan Hansen since it debuted on Broadway in 2016, though such qualms were mostly drowned out by praise for Platt’s visceral live performance and the catchy Broadway-by-way-of-Christian-rock tunes from wunderkind songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (who are also responsible for the toe-tapping numbers from The Greatest Showman).
2021 September 22, Caroline Siede, “Dear Evan Hansen is a misfire on just about every level”, in AV Club - A sudden sickly feeling; queasiness.First known use 16th c.
- A prick of the conscience; a moral scruple, a pang of guilt.First known use 17th c.
This lawyer has no qualms about saving people who are on the wrong side of the law.
- UKarchaicdialectalMortality; plague; pestilence.
Synonyms & antonyms
noununeasiness about the fitness of an action (particularly for reasons of ethics, morals or propriety)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*gʷelH-
- Proto-Indo-European*gʷolH-mos
- Proto-Germanic*kwalmaz
- Proto-West Germanic*kwalm
- Old Englishcwealm
- Middle Englishqualm
- Englishqualm
Perhaps from Middle English qualm, cwalm (“death, sickness, plague”), which is from Old English cwealm (West Saxon: "death, disaster, plague"), ūtcualm (Anglian: "utter destruction"), from Proto-West Germanic *kwalm (“killing, death, destruction”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to stick, pierce; pain, injury, death”), whence also quell. Although the sense development is possible, this has the problem that there are no attestations in intermediate senses before the appearance of "pang of apprehension, etc." in the 16th century. The alternative etymology is from Dutch kwalm or German Qualm (“steam, vapor, mist”) earlier “daze, stupefaction”, which is from the root of German quellen (“to stream, well up”). The sense “feeling of faintness” is from 1530; “uneasiness, doubt” from 1553; “scruple of conscience” from 1649.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian безпокойство, опасение
- безпокойство (bezpokojstvo)sudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- опасение (opasenie)sudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- прилошаване (prilošavane)sickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden queasiness
- гадене (gadene)sickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden queasiness
- угризение (ugrizenie)prick of the conscience, moral scrupule
Czech pochybnosti, obavy
- pochybnostisudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- obavysudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- rozpakysudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- (lehká) nevolnostsickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden queasiness
- výčitkyprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
- skrupuleprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
Dutch angstgevoel, onbehagen
- angstgevoelsudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- onbehagensudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- bedenkingsudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- onzekerheidsudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- twijfelsudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- bezwaarsudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- braakneigingsickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden queasiness
- (plotse) onpasselijkheidsickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden queasiness
- (aanval van) misselijkheidsickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden queasiness
- gewetensaanvalprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
- gewetensbezwaarprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
- scrupuleprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
Finnish epävarmuus, epäilys
- epävarmuussudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- epäilyssudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- kuvotussickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden queasiness
- etominensickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden queasiness
- tunnontuskaprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
French appréhension, scrupule
- appréhensionsudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- scrupuleprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
German Gewissensbisse
- Gewissensbisseprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
Italian dubbio, apprensione
- dubbiosudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- apprensionesudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- paurasudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- scrupoloprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
Māori potau, potau
- potausudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- potausickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden queasiness
- potauprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
Polish niepokój, skrupuł
- niepokójsudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- skrupułprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
Portuguese apreensão, receio
- apreensãosudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- receiosudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- mal-estarsickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden queasiness
- escrúpuloprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
Romanian greață, scrupul
- greațăsickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden queasiness
- scrupulprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
- compuncțiuneprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
Russian сомне́ние, расте́рянность
- сомне́ние (somnénije)sudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- расте́рянность (rastérjannostʹ)sudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- тошнота́ (tošnotá)sickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden queasiness
- угрызе́ния со́вести (ugryzénija sóvesti)prick of the conscience, moral scrupule
Slovak zábrany, pochybnosti
- zábranysudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- pochybnostisudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- obavysudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- zábranyprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
Spanish reparo, renuencia
- reparosudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- renuenciasudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- reaciedadsudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- reparosickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden queasiness
Swedish betänklighet, samvetskval
- betänklighetsudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- samvetskvalprick of the conscience, moral scrupule
Ukrainian сумнів, побоювання
- сумнів (sumniv)sudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- побоювання (pobojuvannja)sudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- вагання (vahannja)sudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear, etc.
- нудота (nudota)sickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden queasiness
- млість (mlistʹ)sickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden queasiness
- докори сумління (dokory sumlinnja)prick of the conscience, moral scrupule
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with qualm
Cite this entry
qualm. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/qualm
“qualm.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/qualm. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “qualm,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/qualm.
Source: qualm on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.