Noah Webster
Compunction
COMPUNCTION, noun [Latin To prick or sting.]
1. A pricking; stimulation; irritation; seldom used in a literal sense.
2. A pricking of heart; poignant grief or remorse proceeding from a consciousness of guilt; the pain of sorrow or regret for having offended God, and incurred his wrath; the sting of conscience proceeding from a conviction of having violated a moral duty.
He acknowledged his disloyalty to the king, with expressions of great compunction