n. 1. an associate degree conferred for successful studies in applied science.
Syn. -- AAS [ WordNet 1.5 ]

. A system of healing disease of mind and body which teaches that all cause and effect is mental, and that sin, sickness, and death will be destroyed by a full understanding of the Divine Principle of Jesus' teaching and healing. The system was founded by Rev. Mary Baker Glover Eddy, of Concord, N. H., in 1866, and bases its teaching on the Scriptures as understood by its adherents. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ F. conscience, fr. L. conscientia, fr. consciens, p. pr. of conscire to know, to be conscious; con- + scire to know. See Science. ] 1. Knowledge of one's own thoughts or actions; consciousness. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The sweetest cordial we receive, at last,
Is conscience of our virtuous actions past. Denham. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The faculty, power, or inward principle which decides as to the character of one's own actions, purposes, and affections, warning against and condemning that which is wrong, and approving and prompting to that which is right; the moral faculty passing judgment on one's self; the moral sense. [ 1913 Webster ]

My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

As science means knowledge, conscience etymologically means self-knowledge . . . But the English word implies a moral standard of action in the mind as well as a consciousness of our own actions. . . . Conscience is the reason, employed about questions of right and wrong, and accompanied with the sentiments of approbation and condemnation. Whewell. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The estimate or determination of conscience; conviction or right or duty. [ 1913 Webster ]

Conscience supposes the existence of some such [ i.e., moral ] faculty, and properly signifies our consciousness of having acted agreeably or contrary to its directions. Adam Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Tenderness of feeling; pity. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Conscience clause, a clause in a general law exempting persons whose religious scruples forbid compliance therewith, -- as from taking judicial oaths, rendering military service, etc. --
Conscience money, stolen or wrongfully acquired money that is voluntarily restored to the rightful possessor. Such money paid into the United States treasury by unknown debtors is called the Conscience fund. --
Court of Conscience, a court established for the recovery of small debts, in London and other trading cities and districts. [ Eng. ] Blackstone. --
In conscience,
In all conscience, in deference or obedience to conscience or reason; in reason; reasonably. “This is enough in conscience.” Howell. “Half a dozen fools are, in all conscience, as many as you should require.” Swift. --
To make conscience of,
To make a matter of conscience, to act according to the dictates of conscience concerning (any matter), or to scruple to act contrary to its dictates. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a conscience. [ R. ] “Soft-conscienced men.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without conscience; indifferent to conscience; unscrupulous. [ 1913 Webster ]

Conscienceless and wicked patrons. Hookre. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. inscientia: cf. F. inscience. ] Lack of knowledge; ignorance. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A scientist. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. nescientia, fr. nesciens, p. pr. of nescire not to know; ne not + scire to know. ] Want of knowledge; ignorance; agnosticism. [ 1913 Webster ]

God fetched it about for me, in that absence and nescience of mine. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. omniscience. ] The quality or state of being omniscient; the quality of knowing everything; -- an attribute peculiar to God. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. prescience, L. praescientia. See Prescient. ] Knowledge of events before they take place; foresight. [ 1913 Webster ]

God's certain prescience of the volitions of moral agents. J. Edwards. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. L. scientia, fr. sciens, -entis, p. pr. of scire to know. Cf. Conscience, Conscious, Nice. ] 1. Knowledge; knowledge of principles and causes; ascertained truth of facts. [ 1913 Webster ]

If we conceive God's sight or science, before the creation, to be extended to all and every part of the world, seeing everything as it is, . . . his science or sight from all eternity lays no necessity on anything to come to pass. Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

Shakespeare's deep and accurate science in mental philosophy. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Accumulated and established knowledge, which has been systematized and formulated with reference to the discovery of general truths or the operation of general laws; knowledge classified and made available in work, life, or the search for truth; comprehensive, profound, or philosophical knowledge. [ 1913 Webster ]

All this new science that men lere [ teach ]. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Science is . . . a complement of cognitions, having, in point of form, the character of logical perfection, and in point of matter, the character of real truth. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Especially, such knowledge when it relates to the physical world and its phenomena, the nature, constitution, and forces of matter, the qualities and functions of living tissues, etc.; -- called also natural science, and physical science. [ 1913 Webster ]

Voltaire hardly left a single corner of the field entirely unexplored in science, poetry, history, philosophy. J. Morley. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Any branch or department of systematized knowledge considered as a distinct field of investigation or object of study; as, the science of astronomy, of chemistry, or of mind. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The ancients reckoned seven sciences, namely, grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy; -- the first three being included in the Trivium, the remaining four in the Quadrivium. [ 1913 Webster ]

Good sense, which only is the gift of Heaven,
And though no science, fairly worth the seven. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Art, skill, or expertness, regarded as the result of knowledge of laws and principles. [ 1913 Webster ]

His science, coolness, and great strength. G. A. Lawrence. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Science is applied or pure. Applied science is a knowledge of facts, events, or phenomena, as explained, accounted for, or produced, by means of powers, causes, or laws. Pure science is the knowledge of these powers, causes, or laws, considered apart, or as pure from all applications. Both these terms have a similar and special signification when applied to the science of quantity; as, the applied and pure mathematics. Exact science is knowledge so systematized that prediction and verification, by measurement, experiment, observation, etc., are possible. The mathematical and physical sciences are called the exact sciences. [ 1913 Webster ]

Comparative sciences,
Inductive sciences. See under Comparative, and Inductive. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Literature; art; knowledge. -- Science, Literature, Art. Science is literally knowledge, but more usually denotes a systematic and orderly arrangement of knowledge. In a more distinctive sense, science embraces those branches of knowledge of which the subject-matter is either ultimate principles, or facts as explained by principles or laws thus arranged in natural order. The term literature sometimes denotes all compositions not embraced under science, but usually confined to the belles-lettres. [ See Literature. ] Art is that which depends on practice and skill in performance. “In science, scimus ut sciamus; in art, scimus ut producamus. And, therefore, science and art may be said to be investigations of truth; but one, science, inquires for the sake of knowledge; the other, art, for the sake of production; and hence science is more concerned with the higher truths, art with the lower; and science never is engaged, as art is, in productive application. And the most perfect state of science, therefore, will be the most high and accurate inquiry; the perfection of art will be the most apt and efficient system of rules; art always throwing itself into the form of rules.” Karslake. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To cause to become versed in science; to make skilled; to instruct. [ R. ] Francis. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ science fiction. ] A genre of fiction in which scientific and technological issues feature prominently, especially including scenarios in which speculative but unproven scientific advances are accepted as fact, and usually set at some time in the future, or in some distant region of the universe. [ PJC ]

n. Want of science or knowledge; ignorance. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

If that any wight ween a thing to be otherwise than it is, it is not only unscience, but it is deceivable opinion. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]