Compunction
Compunction , noun
[Old French compunction, French componction, Latin compunctio, from compungere, compunctum, to prick; com- + pungere to prick, sting. See Pungent.]
1.
A pricking; stimulation. [Obsolete]
That acid and piercing spirit which, with such activity and compunction, invadeth the brains and nostrils.
2.
A picking of heart; poignant grief proceeding from a sense of guilt or consciousness of causing pain; the sting of conscience.
He acknowledged his disloyalty to the king, with expressions of great compunction.