in conscience

in conscience

English

Alternative forms

• in all conscience, in good conscience, in all good conscience
• (obsolete) of conscience, of all conscience

Adverb

in conscience (not comparable)

1. In fairness; by all that is reasonable. [from 15th c.]
   • 1791, Elizabeth Inchbald, A Simple Story, Penguin 2009, p. 10:

     ‘Is she tall, or short?’ asked Mrs. Horton, still wishing for farther information.

     ‘Oh, tall enough of all conscience,’ returned Lady Evans […] .

   • 1809, Walter Scott, letter, 14 June:

     I ought in conscience to have made ten thousand pretty detours about all this.

   • 2005, Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black:

     I liked it when Mart came and we got the takeaway, but I should have left it all for him. Though in all conscience I didn't do it for the sake of the spare ribs.

Translations

in fairness; by all that is right and fair

Finnish: hyvällä omallatunnolla, puhtaalla omallatunnolla French: en son âme et conscience (fr) Polish: z czystym sumieniem

Further reading

• “in conscience” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• “in conscience”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “in all good conscience in all conscience” (US) / “in all good conscience in all conscience” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “not in all good conscience” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “in conscience”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• conscience in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911