Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In medicine, preservative or preventive treatment; prophylaxis.
  • noun Conscience regarded as the internal repository of the laws of right and wrong.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Med.), obsolete Prophylaxis.
  • noun (Metaph.) Conscience viewed as the internal repository of the laws of duty.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun theology, historical An aspect of one's conscience by which one can judge wrong from right and decide on what makes good conduct (as distinguished from syneidesis).

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Medieval Latin syntērēsis (in Thomas Aquinas), from Ancient Greek συντήρησις ("careful watching"), from συντηρεῖν ("to keep guard").

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Examples

Comments

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  • synteresis – the intuitive knowledge of right and wrong

    July 22, 2008

  • The sybarite does as he pleases,

    No shame or regret ever teases,

    And each night he knows

    The sweet deep repose

    Of living without synteresis.

    February 1, 2017