guilt

guilt

criminality; culpability; a crime: His guilt was visible on his face.

Not to be confused with:

gilt – gold in color; golden: gilt-edged glasses

Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree Copyright © 2007, 2013 by Mary Embree

guilt

 (gĭlt)

n.

1.

a. The fact of being responsible for the commission of an offense; moral culpability: The investigation uncovered the suspect's guilt. See Synonyms at blame.

b. Law The fact of having been found to have violated a criminal law; legal culpability: The jury's job is to determine the defendant's guilt or innocence.

c. Responsibility for a mistake or error: The guilt for the book's many typos lies with the editor.

2. A painful emotion experienced when one believes one's actions or thoughts have violated a moral or personal standard: She felt guilt for not having helped the injured animal.

tr.v. guilt·ed, guilt·ing, guilts

1. To make or try to make (someone) feel guilty: My roommate guilted me for forgetting to wash the dishes.

2. To cause (someone) to do something by arousing feelings of guilt: My roommate guilted me into washing the dishes.

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[Middle English gilt, from Old English gylt, crime.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

guilt

(ɡɪlt)

n

1. the fact or state of having done wrong or committed an offence

2. (Law) responsibility for a criminal or moral offence deserving punishment or a penalty

3. remorse or self-reproach caused by feeling that one is responsible for a wrong or offence

4. archaic sin or crime

[Old English gylt, of obscure origin]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

guilt

(gɪlt)

n.

1. the fact or state of having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong, esp. against moral or penal law; culpability: to admit one's guilt in a robbery.

2. a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined.

3. conduct involving the commission of such crimes, wrongs, etc.: to live a life of guilt.

[before 1000; Middle English gilt, Old English gylt offense]

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Guilt

 

See Also: CONSCIENCE

1. Branded with his guilt as if he were tattooed —Henry Slesar
2. Berating himself, like an orator grading his own speech —William Diehl
3. Gather guilt like a young intern his symptoms, his certain evidence —Anne Sexton
4. Guilt is like mothers. Everyone in the world has at least one. And it’s passed down like a torch to the next generation —Erma Bombeck This has been changed to the present tense from the original, which read: “I figured out long ago that guilt was like mothers. Everyone in the world had at least one. And it was passed down like a torch to the next generation.”
5. Guilt, thick as ether, seeped into my body —Jonathan Valin
6. Guilt will descend on you like London fog —Walter Allen
7. The heat of shame mounted through her legs and body and sounded in her ears like the sound of sand pouring —Nadine Gordimer
8. Looked as guilty as if he’d kicked his grandmother —Raymond Chandler
9. Looking behind me … as guilty as a murderer whose knife drips blood —Ann Beattie
10. Looks like a hound caught slipping a chop from the table —T. Coraghessan Boyle
11. A sense of guilt like a scent —Louis MacNeice
12. Shame crowding his throat like vomit —Jean Thompson
13. The thought of the wrong she had done … aroused in her a feeling akin to revulsion such as a drowning man might feel who had shaken off another man who clung to him in the water —Leo Tolstoy
14. We are all like mice: one eats the cheese and all are blamed —Solomon Ibn Vega

Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Guilt

 

caught with one’s hand in the cookie jar Taken by surprise in the process of wrongdoing; caught red-handed. This expression implies that the person caught is not only surprised, but is also in possession of self-incriminating material. Though the image is that of a mischievous child atop a counter engaged in normal childhood activities, in context the phrase is often used for serious adult wrongdoing, particularly political graft.

caught with one’s pants down See VULNERABILITY.

cry peccavi To confess one’s guilt; to openly acknowledge one’s fault or wrongdoing. The origin of this expression is the Latin peccavi I have sinned.’ Both peccavi ‘an acknowledgement of guilt’ and cry peccavi date from the 16th century.

Now lowly crouch’d, I cry peccavi, And prostrate, supplicate pour ma vie.
(Jonathan Swift, Sheridan’s Submission, 1730)

dead to rights See CERTAINTY.

red-handed In the act, with clear evidence of guilt, in flagrante delicto. This term evolved from the earlier with red hand and with bloody hand.

tarred with the same brush See SIMILARITY.

with bloody hand Guilty; caught red-handed or in flagrante delicto. According to the Forest Law of ancient Britain, a man found with bloody hand was presumed guilty of having killed the king’s deer.

with egg on one’s face See HUMILIATION.

Picturesque Expressions: A Thematic Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1980 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	guilt - the state of having committed an offense guiltiness condition, status - a state at a particular time; "a condition (or state) of disrepair"; "the current status of the arms negotiations" blameworthiness, culpability, culpableness - a state of guilt bloodguilt - the state of being guilty of bloodshed and murder complicity - guilt as an accomplice in a crime or offense criminalism, criminality, criminalness - the state of being a criminal guilt by association - the attribution of guilt (without proof) to individuals because the people they associate with are guilty impeachability, indictability - the state of being liable to impeachment innocence - a state or condition of being innocent of a specific crime or offense; "the trial established his innocence"
	2.	guilt - remorse caused by feeling responsible for some offense guilt feelings, guilt trip, guilty conscience compunction, remorse, self-reproach - a feeling of deep regret (usually for some misdeed) survivor guilt - a deep feeling of guilt often experienced by those who have survived some catastrophe that took the lives of many others; derives in part from a feeling that they did not do enough to save the others who perished and in part from feelings of being unworthy relative to those who died; "survivor guilt was first noted in those who survived the Holocaust"

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

guilt

noun

1. shame, regret, remorse, contrition, guilty conscience, bad conscience, self-reproach, self-condemnation, guiltiness Her emotions went from anger to guilt in the space of a few seconds.
shame honour, pride, self-respect

2. culpability, blame, responsibility, misconduct, delinquency, criminality, wickedness, iniquity, sinfulness, blameworthiness, guiltiness You were never convinced of his guilt, were you?
culpability virtue, innocence, righteousness, sinlessness, blamelessness

Quotations
"This is his first punishment, that by the verdict of his own heart no guilty man is acquitted" [Juvenal Satires]
"So full of artless jealousy is guilt"
"It spills itself in fearing to be spilt" [William Shakespeare Hamlet]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

guilt

noun

Responsibility for an error or crime:

blame, culpability, fault, onus.

The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Translations

إحساس بالذَّنْبجُرْم، ذَنْبشُعور الذَنْب

вина

vina

skyldskyldfølelse

Schuld

ενοχή

culpaculpabilidad

syyllisyys

culpabilité

krivnja

bűnbûntudat

kesalahan

sekt

colpacolpevolezza

有罪

유죄

culpa

kalta¤

vaina

schuldschuldgevoel

skyldskyldfølelse

przestępstwowina

culpa

păcat

вина

vina

krivda

грех

skuldskuldkänsla

ความผิด

suçsuçluluk

tội

内疚犯罪罪行

guilt

[gɪlt]

A. N (gen) → culpa f, culpabilidad f (Jur) → culpabilidad f
feelings of guilt → sentimientos mpl de culpa or de culpabilidad
to admit one's guilt → confesarse culpable
she was racked with guilt → la atormentaba el remordimiento

B. CPD guilt complex N → complejo m de culpabilidad or de culpa
guilt trip N there's no point in having a guilt trip about it → no merece la pena empezar con sentimientos de culpabilidad, no merece la pena sentirse culpable

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

guilt

[ˈgɪlt] n → culpabilité fguilt complex n → complexe m de culpabilité

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

guilt

n → Schuld f (→ for, of an +dat); to feel guilt (about something) → sich (wegen etw) schuldig fühlen, (wegen etw) Schuldgefühle haben; feelings of guilt → Schuldgefühle pl; guilt complex → Schuldkomplex m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

guilt

[gɪlt] n (being guilty) → colpevolezza; (feeling guilty) → colpa, senso di colpa
tormented by guilt → tormentato/a dal senso di colpa

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

guilt

(gilt) noun

1. a sense of shame. a feeling of guilt. skuld إحساس بالذَّنْب вина culpa vina die Schuld skyld; skyldfølelse ενοχήculpa, culpabilidad süü(tunne) گناه syyllisyydentunto culpabilitéאשמה अपराध बोध osjećaj krivnje bűntudat rasa bersalah sekt colpa, colpevolezza 罪悪感 죄책감 kaltė vaina rasa bersalah schuldskyldfølelsewina ګناه، جرم، جنايت culpa vinovăţie вина vina krivda krivica skuld ความละอายใจ suçluluk 內疚 провина احساس جرم tội lỗi 内疚

2. the state of having done wrong. Fingerprints proved the murderer's guilt. skuld جُرْم، ذَنْب закононарушение culpa vina die Schuld skyld ένοχοςculpa, culpabilidad süü جرم syyllisyys culpabilitéאשמה अपराध krivnja bűnösség kesalahan sekt colpevolezza 有罪 범죄 행위 kaltė vaina bersalah schuldskyldwina جرم culpa culpabilitate вина vina krivda krivica skuld ซึ่งมีความผิด suç, suçluluk 罪行 злочин قصوروار ہونے کا احساس sự hối hận 罪行

ˈguilty adjective

having, feeling, or causing guilt. The jury found the prisoner guilty; a guilty conscience. skuldig مُذْنِب виновен culpado vinný; špatný schuldig, schuldbewußt skyldig ένοχοςculpable süüdi گناه کار syyllinen coupable, chargéאשם अपराधी kriv bűnös bersalah sekur colpevole 有罪の 유죄의 kaltas vainīgs bersalah schuldigskyldig, skyldbevisstwinny ګناهګار، مجرم، شربو culpado vinovat виновный vinný; zlý kriv kriv skyldig, skuldmedveten ซึ่งสำนึกผิด suçlu 有罪的 винний, винуватий قصوروار đáng khiển trách 有罪的

ˈguiltiness noun

skuldigheid غير مُذْنِب виновност culpa provinilost die Schuldigkeit skyld ενοχήculpabilidad süüdiolek جرم؛ تقصیر syyllisyys culpabilitéאשמה अपराधिकता krivnja bűnösség kesalahan sekt colpevolezza 有罪 유죄 kaltumas vainīgums rasa bersalah schuldskyldighet bycie winnym ګناه، جرم culpa culpabilitate виновность previnilosť krivda krivost skuldmedvetenhet ความรู้สึกผิด suçluluk 有罪 винність, провинність قصور sự có tội 有罪

ˈguiltily adverb

He looked at his mother guiltily. skuldig بشعور بالذَّنْب виновно com ar culpado provinile schuldbewußt skyldigt ένοχα con aire de culpabilidad süüdlaslikult از روی احساس گناه syyllisyydentuntoisesti d'un air coupable בִּתחוּשַת אַשמָה अपराधिकता s krivnjom bűnbánóan dengan rasa bersalah með sektarsvip con aria colpevole やましい様子で 유죄로 kaltai vainīgi dengan rasa bersalah met een schuldig gevoel skyldig, skyldbevisst z poczuciem winy د ګناه احساس com ar culpado cu un aer vinovat/de culpabilitate виновато previnilo z občutkom krivde s osećajem krivice skyldigt, skuldmedvetet อย่างละอาย suçlu gibi 內疚地 винувато مجرامانہ نظر سے với vẻ có lỗi 内疚地

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

guilt

→ شُعور الذَنْب vina skyld Schuld ενοχή culpa syyllisyys culpabilité krivnja colpa 有罪 유죄 schuldgevoel skyld wina culpa вина skuld ความผิด suçluluk tội 犯罪

Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009

guilt

n culpa; feelings of — sentimientos de culpa

English-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.