Qualm Definition

kwäm, kwôm

qualms

noun

qualms

An uneasy feeling about the propriety or rightness of a course of action.

American Heritage

A sudden, brief feeling of sickness, faintness, or nausea.

Webster's New World

A sudden feeling of uneasiness or doubt; misgiving.

Webster's New World

A twinge of conscience; scruple.

Webster's New World

(now chiefly UK dialectal) Mortality; plague; pestilence.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

Other Word Forms of Qualm

Singular:

qualm

Plural:

qualms

From Middle English qualm, cwalm (“death, sickness, plague"), from Old English cwealm (West Saxon: "death, disaster, plague"), Å«tcualm (Anglian: "utter destruction"), from Proto-Germanic *kwalmaz (“killing, death, destruction"), from Proto-Indo-European *gÊ·el- (“to stick, pierce; pain, injury, death"). Related to cwelan (“to die,") cwellan (“to kill"). The other suggested etymology, less satisfying, is from Dutch kwalm "steam, vapor, mist," which also may be ultimately from the same Germanic root as quell. Sense softened to "feeling of faintness" 1530; meaning "uneasiness, doubt" is from 1553; that of "scruple of conscience" is 1649. An indirect connection between the Old English and modern senses is plausible, via the notion of "fit of sickness."

From Wiktionary
Origin unknown

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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