QUALM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does qualm mean? 

• QUALM (noun)
  The noun QUALM has 2 senses:

1. uneasiness about the fitness of an action

2. a mild state of nausea

  Familiarity information: QUALM used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• QUALM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Uneasiness about the fitness of an action

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

misgiving; qualm; scruple

Hypernyms ("qualm" is a kind of...):

anxiety (a vague unpleasant emotion that is experienced in anticipation of some (usually ill-defined) misfortune)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A mild state of nausea

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

qualm; queasiness; squeamishness

Hypernyms ("qualm" is a kind of...):

nausea; sickness (the state that precedes vomiting)

 Context examples 

But my spirit masters the trembling flesh and the qualms of the mind.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

And at the very moment of that vainglorious thought, a qualm came over me, a horrid nausea and the most deadly shuddering.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I had to cling tight to the backstay, and the world turned giddily before my eyes, for though I was a good enough sailor when there was way on, this standing still and being rolled about like a bottle was a thing I never learned to stand without a qualm or so, above all in the morning, on an empty stomach.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The doctor seemed seized with a qualm of faintness; he shut his mouth tight and nodded.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The flesh and the qualms of the flesh she was heir to, but the flesh bore heavily only on the flesh.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)