Pick the formal, common word "scrupulous" (or "unscrupulous") when you want to talk about people who care very much (or not at all) about being fair, honest, thorough, and accountable.

At the heart of these words is "scruples," or pangs of guilt. In essence, when you call someone scrupulous, you're saying they'd feel guilty if they didn't do things with care and integrity, so they always do. And when you call someone unscrupulous, you're saying they do things with no sense of care or integrity, and they never feel guilty about it.

You might talk about someone's scrupulous care, attention, consideration, politeness, respect, accounting, note-taking and so on. Or you might say that someone is scrupulous about doing something: "He's scrupulous about the timesheets, making sure each employee is paid every penny they're owed."

And you might talk about unscrupulous deeds, habits, tactics, marketing, lending, journalism, business practices, and so on.

You can also refer to people themselves as scrupulous or unscrupulous. For example, a scrupulous school librarian never misshelves a book or misses a chance to get the right book into the hands of the right child. An unscrupulous job seeker pads their resume with exaggerations and lies and never feels bad about it.

"When she talks dairy, she is scrupulous, sometimes consulting a trade manual that deals with matters such as oxidation and rancidity."
 — Libby Copeland, Washington Post, 20 March 2017

"Reporters are crusaders after truth and scourges of corruption, for sure, but they are never squeaky clean. Observe Hildy nonchalantly paying bribes, massaging quotations and spinning sources in 'His Girl Friday,' and you will in essence witness the ethics handbooks of any decent paper going up in flames. The urge to get the big scoop can be noble but also unscrupulous."
   — A. O. Scott, New York Times, 8 April 2010

has this page helped you understand "scrupulous" and "unscrupulous"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about these words, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study them:

Explain the meanings of "scrupulous" and "unscrupulous" without saying "moral" or "immoral."

try one out:

Scrupulousness is a good thing, but maybe not when taken to extremes.

I'm thinking of the character Chidi from The Good Place, whose ethical scrupulousness actually irritates his friends. From the wiki: "[Chidi's] overwhelming knowledge of ethics often caused him to obsess over whether even his most insignificant actions were ethical, such as telling his friend he liked his boots when in fact he hated them."

I'm also thinking of Seymour Parrish, Robin Williams's character in One Hour Photo, who causes a fight by insisting that his tech corrects a single "plus point shift to cyan" in his photo printer. "I'm trying to preserve a minimum level of quality for my customers," he seethes. 

With these examples in mind, talk about another person, real or fictional, who goes overboard with their scrupulousness.

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is "That's Not a Thing, That's Two Things."

I describe it; you name it! For example, if I give you "It's that thing where Steve Harvey hosts two groups competing as vassals in medieval Europe," then you give me "Family Feudalism." To see the answer, scroll to the bottom.

Try this today:

It's that thing in the Vatican City where they pick the pope, surrounded by the visual beauty of Michelangelo's painting and the aural beauty of "Pink Pony Club" and "Hot To Go!"

review these words:

1. The precise opposite of SCRUPULOUS is UNSCRUPULOUS. But some close opposites of SCRUPULOUS are

A. CHATTY and LOQUACIOUS.
B. HAPHAZARD and SLIPSHOD.
C. SHIMMERING and RESPLENDENT.

2. Samantha Seiple describes a reporter as "energetic but unscrupulous," known to "_____."

A. clock out by 4:00pm
B. take bribes to slant stories
C. party too hard and wake up in planters

Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. B From the game: That's the Sistine Chappell Roan.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.