entry
conscientious
/ˌkɑnʃiˈɛnʃəs/Careful, responsible, and guided by moral duty
From Latin conscience (Inner moral knowledge).
from Latin conscientia "sense of right, moral sense" (see conscience ). Related: Conscientiously ; conscientiousness ....
from Medieval Latin conscientiosus
+1 more sourcefrom French conscientieux (16c.; Modern French consciencieux )
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from Latin conscientia "sense of right, moral sense" (see conscience ). Related: Conscientiously ; conscientiousness ....
from Medieval Latin conscientiosus
+1 more sourcefrom French conscientieux (16c.; Modern French consciencieux )
+1 more sourcePicture a medieval person carrying a tiny courtroom inside the skull: that is the image hidden in conscience. Latin conscientia meant “knowledge within oneself,” built from the idea of knowing something together or thoroughly; English inherited conscientious through Medieval Latin conscientiosus and Middle French conscientieux. The deeper Latin verb, conscire, is related to scire, “to know,” and the same family gives us conscious—so a conscientious person is, linguistically speaking, someone intensely awake to the moral consequences of an act. English had the adjective by the 1610s, but its most public modern role arrived with the phrase “conscientious objector,” recorded in 1896 during disputes over compulsory vaccination and later strongly associated with World War I military service. Remember it as conscience with its sleeves rolled up: not merely knowing what is right, but carefully doing the job in accordance with that knowledge.
The Story
Picture a medieval person carrying a tiny courtroom inside the skull: that is the image hidden in conscience. Latin conscientia meant “knowledge within oneself,” built from the idea of knowing something together or thoroughly; English inherited conscientious through Medieval Latin conscientiosus and Middle French conscientieux. The deeper Latin verb, conscire, is related to scire, “to know,” and the same family gives us conscious—so a conscientious person is, linguistically speaking, someone intensely awake to the moral consequences of an act. English had the adjective by the 1610s, but its most public modern role arrived with the phrase “conscientious objector,” recorded in 1896 during disputes over compulsory vaccination and later strongly associated with World War I military service. Remember it as conscience with its sleeves rolled up: not merely knowing what is right, but carefully doing the job in accordance with that knowledge.
Kin & Kindred
From 'conscience'·Inner moral knowledge; awareness of right and wrong
Derived Terms
English words from this root