conscience money
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- Payment made voluntarily to reduce guilt over dishonest dealings: Money that a person pays, often anonymously, because they feel guilty about having acquired it dishonestly or unfairly in the past. It is an act intended to ease one's conscience.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- He sent a large sum of conscience money to the charity after years of guilt over the tax he had evaded.
- The anonymous donation was believed to be conscience money from someone involved in the scandal.
Advanced Usage
- The term often implies that the payment is made without being compelled by law, driven purely by a personal sense of moral obligation or remorse.
- The concept of conscience money is more about personal atonement than legal restitution.
Variants and Related Words
- Conscience (n): A person's moral sense of right and wrong.
- His conscience wouldn't allow him to keep the money.
- Guilt money (n, informal): A less formal synonym for conscience money.
- He viewed the payment as simple guilt money.
Synonyms
- Atonement payment: A payment made to make amends for a wrong.
- Restitution (in a voluntary, moral context): The restoration of something lost or stolen, or payment for loss or injury.
Related Phrases
- To ease one's conscience: To do something to reduce feelings of guilt.
- He paid the conscience money to ease his conscience.
- A guilty conscience: A feeling of guilt about something one has done wrong.
- It was a guilty conscience that finally prompted him to send the conscience money.
Noun
- payment made voluntarily to reduce guilt over dishonest dealings