Meanings
comparative more scrupulous · superlative most scrupulous
- Exactly and carefully conducted.
Come on! You have got to admire their dedication to the rules! These two men are so scrupulous, they would sit at a broken red traffic light for six hours in the middle of the night. “Hey, red is red! We live in a civilized society! Red is red! We stay!”
2016, Tim Carvell [et al.], “Special Districts”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 4, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBOSynonyms: meticulous, painstaking, accurate, careful, surgical, comprehensive, solicitous, conscientious · Antonyms: unscrupulous
- Having scruples or compunctions.
Synonyms: worried · Antonyms: Machiavellian
- Precise; exact or strict.
He is scrupulous in his finances.
1 more example
He is a scrupulous businessman and always acts in the best interest of his company.
- Wrongly feeling guilt or anxiety about one’s morality; suffering from scrupulosity.
Because I have a scrupulous conscience, I sometimes need to be reminded that not everything I do is sinful.
Synonyms: ethical, fair-minded, honourable, just, moral, righteous
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveExactly and carefully conducted.
adjectiveWrongly feeling guilt or anxiety about one’s morality; suffering from scrupulosity.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivehaving scruples; arising from a sense of right and wrong; principled
adjectivecharacterized by extreme care and great effort
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinscrupulosus
- Middle Frenchscrupuleux
- Englishscrupulous
From Middle French scrupuleux, from Latin scrupulosus.
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian съвестен, щателен
- съвестен (săvesten)meticulous
- щателен (štatelen)meticulous
- добросъвествн (dobrosăvestvn)having principles
Czech skrupulózní
- skrupulózníhaving scruples
Danish omhyggelig, samvittighedsfuld
- omhyggeligmeticulous
- samvittighedsfuldhaving scruples
Dutch scrupuleus, angstvallig
- scrupuleusmeticulous
- angstvalligmeticulous
- meticuleusmeticulous
German sorgfältig, gründlich
- sorgfältigmeticulous
- gründlichmeticulous
- gewissenhafthaving principles
Icelandic grandvar
- grandvarmeticulous
Italian coscienzioso, accurato
- coscienziosometiculous
- accuratometiculous
- meticolosometiculous
Latin scrūpulōsus
- scrūpulōsusmeticulous
Māori uhupoho, rikarika
- uhupohometiculous
- rikarikameticulous
- mōteateahaving scruples
- rikarikahaving scruples
- pohopāhaving scruples
Norwegian Bokmål skrupuløs, nøye
- skrupuløsmeticulous
- nøyemeticulous
- grundigmeticulous
- omhyggeligmeticulous
- skrupuløshaving scruples
- samvittighetsfullhaving scruples
- skrupuløshaving principles
- prinsippfasthaving principles
Polish skrupulatny, drobiazgowy
- skrupulatnymeticulous
- drobiazgowymeticulous
- mający skrupułyhaving scruples
- zasadniczyhaving principles
Portuguese escrupuloso
- escrupulosometiculous
Russian скрупулёзный, тщательный
- скрупулёзный (skrupuljóznyj)meticulous
- тщательный (tščatelʹnyj)meticulous
- доскональный (doskonalʹnyj)meticulous
- добросовестный (dobrosovestnyj)having scruples
- порядочный (porjadočnyj)having scruples
- со́вестливый (sóvestlivyj)having scruples
Swedish noggrann, omsorgsfull
- noggrannmeticulous
- omsorgsfullmeticulous
- sorgfälligmeticulous
- grundligmeticulous
- skrupulösmeticulous
- försiktigmeticulous
- betänksammeticulous
- nogräknadmeticulous
- skrupulöshaving scruples
- samvetsgrannhaving scruples
- samvetsömhaving scruples
Ukrainian скрупульо́зний, сумлі́нний
- скрупульо́зний (skrupulʹóznyj)meticulous
- сумлі́нний (sumlínnyj)having scruples
- добросо́вісний (dobrosóvisnyj)having scruples
Cite this entry
scrupulous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scrupulous
“scrupulous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scrupulous. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scrupulous,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scrupulous.
Source: scrupulous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.