First recorded in 1975–80
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"She always used to guilt trip us about it."
From BBC ● Nov. 19, 2024
She even defies her father when he tries and fails to guilt trip her into not going to Sarah Lawrence.
From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2024
But following the children in these fictions, who didn’t create the conditions of their suffering, isn’t just a devastating guilt trip.
From New York Times ● Jun. 29, 2023
He sits beside her on a couch and, laying a final, manipulative guilt trip on her, tells her that all he ever really wanted was for her to love him.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2022
I wondered if their moms knew how to guilt trip them like a boss too.
From "Here to Stay" by Sara Farizan
It’s the exact opposite of what you truly want, but your husband has allowed his brother and sister-in-law to coerce and/or guilt-trip your husband into an unwelcome financial arrangement.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 21, 2026
They guilt-trip her into the chore and then proceed to engage in activities guaranteed to make them late.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 24, 2025
I’m writing about her, not to guilt-trip those who enjoyed their backyard barbecue last week, but because she inspired such admiration from her peers.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 9, 2023
If they want to sit on their porch and guilt-trip you all day with their eyes, that’s on them.
From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2020
I’m not trying to guilt-trip her, I’m just trying to figure out how we’re ever going to stop being such strangers to each other.
From "Sparrow" by Sarah Moon
Cal Macleod is a 22-year-old island native who graduated from a textile-engineering school in Edinburgh—his gifts on the loom earned him a scholarship—and has been guilt-tripped by his father, John, into returning home.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
You are, in their household, considered a “soft touch” — someone who is easily guilt-tripped and/or coerced into parting with your money.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2025
He later told the BBC he was worried terminally ill people could feel "like a burden" and be "guilt-tripped" into ending their own lives sooner than they would have liked.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2024
You’re guilt-tripped into doing it, knowing that the employee you dealt with is being evaluated on the basis of your answers.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 1, 2024
“I even guilt-tripped your sister into handing over a dress, Lynn. She brought three.”
From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth
Marx asks toward the end, pressing creators and consumers alike to sidestep poptimism’s guilt-tripping and operate outside the boundaries of the algorithm.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2025
This isn’t about guilt-tripping anyone out of a well-deserved day off.
From Salon ● May 26, 2025
Then give them a quick, calm, “I’m sorry to hear you feel that way,” and don’t engage in anything from them that qualifies as judging, meddling, guilt-tripping or hypocrisy.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 14, 2022
But people who are married should be on the same page, or close, or at least refrain from antagonizing and guilt-tripping each other!
From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2021
He certainly had a gift for guilt-tripping others, but he saved a lot of it for himself.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
