qualm: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

[Dictionary.com]

	Word of the Day for Monday, March 18, 2013 qualm \kwahm, kwawm\, noun: 1. an uneasy feeling or pang of conscience as to conduct; compunction: He has no qualms about lying. 2. a sudden feeling of apprehensive uneasiness; misgiving: a sudden qualm about the success of the venture. 3. a sudden sensation or onset of faintness or illness, especially of nausea. A soft qualm, regret, flowed down his backbone, increasing. -- James Joyce, Ulysses, 1922 “Uh nuh nuh nuh,” Bosco told her, wagging a finger as if she'd spoken this rogue qualm aloud. -- Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad, 2010 The etymology of qualm is uncertain. It may come from the Old English cwealm, which means "torment," "pain," and "injury," but scholars believe there is not enough evidence to assume a direct connection between these terms. Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help Words of the Day? How about words of timeless wisdom? Introducing our Quotes channel! "Life itself is a quotation." - Jorge Luis Borges Check out the Quote of the Day ›› Lexical Investigations: Awkward A motley combination of Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and Germanic dialects, the English language (more or less as we know it) coalesced between the 9th and 13th centuries. Since then, it has continued to import and borrow words and expressions from around the world, and the meanings have mutated. (Awesome and awful once meant nearly the... Read more ›› Dictionary.com Word of the Day You are subscribed to the Word of the Day as: e-dict...@googlegroups.com Subscriber since: January 06, 2008 Unsubscribe from the Word of the Day To subscribe to the Word of the Day by email, please send a blank message to: join-wor...@lists.lexico.com ©2013 by Dictionary.com, LLC. 555 12th Street Suite 500 Oakland CA 94607 Subscriptions to the Word of the Day can also be managed online   Tell a friend about the Word of the Day!