- prick someone's conscience
- prick (someone's) conscience
to make someone feel guilty.
Seeing pictures of starving children pricks my conscience, but I rarely give money to charity.
New idioms dictionary. 2014.
prick someone's conscience
Look at other dictionaries:
prick conscience — prick (someone s) conscience to make someone feel guilty. Seeing pictures of starving children pricks my conscience, but I rarely give money to charity … New idioms dictionary
prick — prick1 [prık] v 1.) [T] to make a small hole in something using something sharp ▪ Prick the sausages before you grill them. prick yourself/prick your finger (=accidentally make a hole in your skin) ▪ She had pricked her finger on a rose thorn.… … Dictionary of contemporary English
prick — 1 verb 1 (T) to make a small hole in something, using a sharp point: Prick the pastry lightly with a fork. | prick yourself/prick your finger: Ouch! I ve pricked my finger with the needle. 2 (I, T) to feel an unpleasant stinging feeling on your… … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
prick — 1. verb 1) prick the potatoes with a fork Syn: pierce, puncture, make/put a hole in, stab, perforate, nick, jab 2) her conscience pricked her Syn: trouble, worry, distress, perturb … Thesaurus of popular words
conscience — noun (C, U) 1 MIND the part of your mind that tells you whether what you are doing is morally right or wrong: Be guided by your conscience. | a social conscience (=a moral sense of how society should be) | a guilty/bad conscience (=feel guilty… … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
prick — [[t]prɪ̱k[/t]] pricks, pricking, pricked 1) VERB If you prick something or prick holes in it, you make small holes in it with a sharp object such as a pin. [V n] Prick the potatoes and rub the skins with salt... [V n prep] He pricks holes in the… … English dictionary
prick — I UK [prɪk] / US verb Word forms prick : present tense I/you/we/they prick he/she/it pricks present participle pricking past tense pricked past participle pricked 1) [transitive] to make a very small hole in the surface of something with a sharp… … English dictionary
prick — prick1 [ prık ] verb 1. ) transitive to make a very small hole in the surface of something with a sharp object: He pricked his finger and drew blood. Prick the sausages with a fork. 2. ) intransitive or transitive to cause or experience a guilty… … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
urge — vb Urge, egg, exhort, goad, spur, prod, prick, sic mean to press or impel to action, effort, or speed. Urge implies the exertion of influence or pressure either from something or someone external or from something within (as the conscience or the … New Dictionary of Synonyms
English literature — Introduction the body of written works produced in the English language by inhabitants of the British Isles (including Ireland) from the 7th century to the present day. The major literatures written in English outside the British Isles are… … Universalium
