Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - conscience

~ n 1 »MIND« the part of your mind that tells you whether what you are doing is morally right or wrong  (Be guided by your conscience. | a social conscience (=a moral sense of how society should be) | a guilty/bad conscience (=feel guilty because you have done something wrong))  (It was his guilty conscience that made him offer to help. | a clear conscience (=a feeling that you have done nothing wrong))  (Well at least I can face them all with a clear conscience. | a twinge/pang of conscience (=guilty feeling))  (Ian felt a pang of conscience at having misjudged her. | have no conscience (about sth) (=not feel guilty about something))  (They've no conscience at all about cheating. | a prisoner of conscience (=someone who is in prison because of their political or religious beliefs) | a matter of conscience (=something that you must make a moral judgment about))  (I can't tell you what to do - it's a matter of conscience.) 2 on your conscience if you have something on your conscience it makes you feel guilty  (If anything happens to her I'll always have it on my conscience.) 3 prick your conscience if an action or event pricks your conscience, it makes you feel guilty  (The dog's sad look pricked her conscience and she took him home.) 4 clear your conscience to make yourself stop feeling guilty by telling someone about what you did wrong  (Terry decided to clear his conscience and confess.) 5 in all conscience formal if you cannot in all conscience do something, you cannot do it because you think it is wrong  (I couldn't in all conscience tell him that his job was safe.) 6 in good conscience if you do something in good conscience, you do it because you think it is the right thing to do  (statements made in good conscience)