guilt
[gilt]
- the fact or state of having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong, especially against moral or penal law; culpability: He admitted his guilt.
- a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined.
- conduct involving the commission of such crimes, wrongs, etc.: to live a life of guilt.
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- to cause to feel guilty (often followed by out or into): She totally guilted me out, dude. He guilted me into picking up the tab.See also guilt-trip.
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Origin of guilt
before 1000; Middle English gilt, Old English gylt offense
Synonyms
See more synonyms for guilt on Thesaurus.com3. criminality.
Antonyms
1. innocence.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for guilt
Contemporary Examples
Guilt, when dispensed in the circumstances Morris occupied, is the anti-Viagra.
Instead of lights and gifts, this one is filled with broken promises and guilt.
Police then lied to Henry by telling him that if he admitted his guilt, he could go home.
Although often this is considered proof positive of guilt at trial, it is not an uncommon occurrence in false confessions.
Perhaps my outrage at the men defending Cosby springs from my own feelings of guilt.
Historical Examples
If Ben was morally guilty, he was forced into his guilt by law and general custom.
Biography of a SlaveCharles Thompson
It was only by an effort that he shook off the vague feeling of guilt.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
He put his whole will into the assertion of guilt, to batter down the man's resistance.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
But Uncle Lucien was so certain of the boy's guilt that he mistook his pride for impudence.
The Boy Life of NapoleonEugenie Foa
Whatever tends to extenuate the guilt of other sins, is an aggravation of this.
Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. IFrancis Augustus Cox
guilt
- the fact or state of having done wrong or committed an offence
- responsibility for a criminal or moral offence deserving punishment or a penalty
- remorse or self-reproach caused by feeling that one is responsible for a wrong or offence
- archaic sin or crime
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Word Origin
Old English gylt, of obscure origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for guilt
n.
Old English gylt "crime, sin, fault, fine," of unknown origin, though some suspect a connection to Old English gieldan "to pay for, debt," but OED editors find this "inadmissible phonologically." The mistaken use for "sense of guilt" is first recorded 1680s. Guilt by association recorded by 1919.
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v.
"to influence someone by appealing to his sense of guiltiness," by 1995, from guilt (n.). Related: Guilted; guilting. Old English also had a verbal form, gyltan "to commit an offense."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper