What's the difference between scrupulous and supercilious?

Scrupulous


Definition:

  • (a.) Full ofscrupules; inclined to scruple; nicely doubtful; hesitating to determine or to act, from a fear of offending or of doing wrong.
  • (a.) Careful; cautious; exact; nice; as, scrupulous abstinence from labor; scrupulous performance of duties.
  • (a.) Given to making objections; captious.
  • (a.) Liable to be doubted; doubtful; nice.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Life-threatening or lethal toxicity was encountered when these phenomena were not scrupulously observed.
  • (2) Invariably in these films the visuals are scrupulously authentic, but the "message" is very much in line with the values of their human creators.
  • (3) A plea is made for scrupulous care to avoid starch powder contamination of the operative field.
  • (4) And yet, according to his widow Sheila Ravenscroft, this photograph documents the first stage in a complicated and scrupulous filing system that Peel had maintained for his record collection since 1969.
  • (5) He is always scrupulous to keep his views to himself and enjoys the respect of politicians of all stripes, who recognise the skills of a top operator.
  • (6) Bernie Sanders has scrupulously avoided throwing punches at political rivals during a career that has lasted close to half a century .
  • (7) Telling an institution to “keep its mouth shut” is, quite simply, a threat – entirely different from expressing the hope that the media might want to temper its criticism and scrupulously check its facts.
  • (8) However, he added: “We are going to be scrupulous in investigating cases where we are concerned about the impartiality and accountability that is taking place.” Earlier this week, Obama hosted a White House summit to deal with the fallout from the unrest in Ferguson and concerns about police brutality and stereotyping that the president said have resonated in communities across the country.
  • (9) Infection is a potential risk in diabetic men using intracavernosal injection therapy and those offered it should be informed of the importance of a scrupulous sterile technique and the need to seek urgent medical help for decompression if an erection persists for more than 4-6 h.
  • (10) Of course, even though we brights will scrupulously insist that our word is a noun, if it catches on it is likely to follow gay and eventually re-emerge as a new adjective.
  • (11) This favourable series demonstrates that nowadays with the improved technology and with a scrupulous pharmacological protocol transluminal coronary angioplasty can be performed with a low incidence of complications and excellent results, further assessing its high potential in the treatment of ischemic coronary artery disease.
  • (12) Even with the most scrupulous IUD insertion technics, uterine perforation is a recognized complication.
  • (13) The live footage on the sports channel ESPN was scrupulously presented in line with post-Reithian attitudes to the depiction of private crisis: as soon as it became apparent that Muamba was in extremis, the camera pulled back to a long, high angle, which showed only a distant huddle.
  • (14) These findings indicate the importance of scrupulous hand washing before and after handling each infant and of enforcement of other basic nursery techniques.
  • (15) One critic, for example, in a very patient, and indeed in every respect but one a positively scrupulous, reading of one of Eliot's anti-semitic poems, "Burbank with a Baedeker: Bleistein with a Cigar," glancingly commented, "the question whether [it is] anti-semitic is obviously not a pressing one".
  • (16) From analysis of the results of scrupulous examination of 66 patients with pathological shadows up to 3 cm in diameter found in the lungs during X-ray examination the authors established that peripheral carcinoma of the lung accounts for 65.2% of all asymptomatic accidentally revealed structures in the lungs.
  • (17) In the absence of added Mg2+ untreated tRNA was acylated in the presence of spermine, but tRNA from which Mg2+ had been scrupulously removed was not.
  • (18) Each stone is then carefully cleaned by hand and scrupulously recorded before being put into storage.
  • (19) The results of our study indicate that a more scrupulous enforcement of legislative measures concerning anti-tetanus vaccination is recommended.
  • (20) Recommended biography Wodehouse: A Life by Robert McCrum (2004) is a masterly study of Wodehouse's achievement, and includes a scrupulous and clear-eyed examination of the wartime scandal which dispenses with much of the accumulated hyperbole.

Supercilious


Definition:

  • (a.) Lofty with pride; haughty; dictatorial; overbearing; arrogant; as, a supercilious officer; asupercilious air; supercilious behavior.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Comment is perfectly legitimate, but the sneering, supercilious, specious and dismissive contributions masquerading as ‘commentary’ belittle the claims of a ‘quality’ paper.” Before attempting to assess the validity of the reader’s analysis – broadly shared by some other readers – I think his email reflects one or two other interesting aspects of the demographics of the Guardian’s readership and the left.
  • (2) After former tabloid editor Piers Morgan was fired from CNN , there were warnings that the US media was now poisoned to British accents and supposed superciliousness.
  • (3) But when I saw the advert it occurred to me that it, and that supercilious exclamation mark in particular, could in fact give people an excuse to express their homophobia.
  • (4) A decade later when I met him again in a hotel suite in London, it was more Mona Lisa than Cheshire Cat - coolly supercilious, ultimately indecipherable.
  • (5) It was often veiled, supercilious and sinister, but on screen he made us an offer we couldn't refuse.
  • (6) So the relationship that begins at the Milford railway station (it's two metaphorical stops down the line from Borchester – The Archers began five years after Brief Encounter) with a piece of grit in Laura's eye and Alec's unquestionably clean handkerchief will lead to afternoons together, lunch and a visit to the cinema (their silly movie is called Flames of Passion), a country drive, and an awkward trip to a friend's flat (the supercilious Valentine Dyall).
  • (7) Recently, I have caught myself saying something in everyday conversation that a few years ago would have elicited a cry of “supercilious wanker” from me if I’d heard someone else say it.
  • (8) Brexit, said Putin, was a result of irritation over Britain subsidising weaker economies, and “the British government’s self-assuredness and supercilious attitude to life-changing decisions in their own country and Europe in general”.
  • (9) I was made to regret it almost immediately when I was loudly condemned as a “supercilious prick”.
  • (10) Shimell's character is very supercilious and unsympathetic – he has a Basil Fawlty-esque fit of temper in a restaurant – and it is not easy to tell if this is deliberate, or if Kiarostami thinks Shimell elegant and cerebral.
  • (11) To others, though, he is at his supercilious worst here; floating the idea that, having withdrawn from the union, Scotland, in its beneficence, can turn round and preach to the English about how to deal with the nasty Tories.
  • (12) Their particular brand of upper class snobbery is now so anachronistic it’s simply amusing: in an obituary this week of Deborah , the writer pointed to a list of the late Duchess of Devonshire’s dislikes, which included but was not limited to “the bits of paper that fall out of magazines; female weather forecasters; the words ‘environment’, ‘conservation’ and ‘leisure’; supercilious assistants at makeup counters; dietary fads; skimmed milk; girls with slouching shoulders and Tony Blair.” And then there are the Nazis.
  • (13) You know when you're out walking and you see a party of riders, and they give you a slightly supercilious look?
  • (14) President Barack Obama is often criticised for superciliousness and arrogance.
  • (15) Now usually it would be advisable to ignore such news and treat in the same way as someone telling you that the sun is "hot and yellow", Piers Morgan is "smug and annoying", Katie Hopkins is "snobbish and supercilious" and the Mill is "tired and emotional" — it's just the way of life.