Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COM-PUNC'TION, n. [L. compunctio, compungo; con and pungo, to prick or sting; It. compunzione, compugnere, or compungere; Sp. compuncion; Fr. componction. See Pungency.]

1. A pricking; stimulation; irritation; seldom used in a literal sense. – Brown.
2. A pricking of heart; poignant grief or remorse proceeding from a consciousness of guilt; the pain of sorrow or regret for having offended God, and incurred his wrath; the sting of conscience proceeding from a conviction of having violated a moral duty. He acknowledged his disloyalty to the king, with expressions of great compunction. Clarendon.