negligence vs scruple

negligence

noun
  • The state of being negligent. 

  • The breach of a duty of care: the failure to exercise a standard of care that a reasonable person would have in a similar situation. 

  • The tort whereby a duty of reasonable care was breached, causing damage: any conduct short of intentional or reckless action that falls below the legal standard for preventing unreasonable injury. 

scruple

verb
  • To excite scruples in; to cause to scruple. 

  • To hesitate or be reluctant to act due to considerations of conscience or expedience. 

  • To regard with suspicion; to question. 

noun
  • Hesitation to act from the difficulty of determining what is right or expedient; doubt, hesitation or unwillingness due to motives of conscience. 

  • A weight of ¹⁄₂₈₈ of a pound, that is, twenty grains or one third of a dram, about 1.3 grams (symbol: ℈). 

  • A Hebrew unit of time equal to ¹⁄₁₀₈₀ hour. 

How often have the words negligence and scruple occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )