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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

conscience

/ˈkɑn.ʃəns/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:57
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KON-shuns: use two syllables.

The letters sci produce a sh sound. Keep the final n before the s, which distinguishes the ending from the ending of “conscious.”

TRY SAYING
His conscience would not let him keep the money.

APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

What does conscience mean?

noun

  1. The ethical or moral sense of right and wrong, chiefly as it affects a person’s own behaviour and forms their attitude to their past actions.
  2. A personification of the moral sense of right and wrong, usually in the form of a person, a being or merely a voice that gives moral lessons and advices.
More meanings (1)

noun

  1. (obsolete) Consciousness; thinking; awareness, especially self-awareness.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈkɑn.ʃəns/

Pronunciation used in the listening tip.

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Other dictionary pronunciations

/ˈkɑn.tʃəns/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

She ransacked her conscience—which was full of harmless little matters, like her pocket or her work-bag—and took herself to task, poor thing!
Nathaniel HawthorneThe Scarlet LetterProject Gutenberg ebook #33
If you grant that one man’s conscience doesn’t know right from wrong, it is an admission that there are others like it.
Mark TwainWhat Is Man? and Other EssaysProject Gutenberg ebook #70
More book examples (3)
A trade, sir, that I hope I may use with a safe conscience, which is indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.
William ShakespeareThe Complete Works of William ShakespeareProject Gutenberg ebook #100
And she held that what her conscience had decided for her when her mind was unbiassed ought not to be overruled now.
Thomas HardyTess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure WomanProject Gutenberg ebook #110
Louis Philippe, like all historical men who have passed from the scene, is to-day put on his trial by the human conscience.
Victor HugoLes MisérablesTranslated by Isabel Florence HapgoodProject Gutenberg ebook #135