Unscrupulous means willing to act dishonestly without any qualms. An unscrupulous landlord, unscrupulous traders, entirely unscrupulous.
The scruple in it is a small doubt of conscience, so unscrupulous means having none. It is the standard word in consumer warnings, where unscrupulous traders is the phrase for anybody preying on the unwary.
1adjectiveunscrupulousWilling to act dishonestly without any qualms.
“An unscrupulous landlord kept their deposit and refused to fix the heating.”
unscrupulous is a quality.
Latin
scrupulosus
Middle French
scrupuleux
English
scrupulous
English, today
unscrupulous
From un- + scrupulous. scrupulous comes from Middle French scrupuleux, from Latin scrupulosus.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA