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
If the crowd wasn’t laughing, he could lay on a guilt trip: “Could you be a little more quiet? Because I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 20, 2023
So if she continues to guilt trip you, remind her that you will no longer be discussing it.
From Slate ● Nov. 30, 2022
Rather than giving me a guilt trip, Diego said, “Any time,” and I knew he meant it.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
“Feel bad in the sense that you regret you can’t go and that it will have an impact on people, but don’t let someone guilt-trip you or make you feel like you’re an irresponsible person.”
From MarketWatch ● May 6, 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
Obviously you don't want to badger or guilt-trip anyone into anything, but those are just possible bad outcomes that are easily preventable through honesty, transparency and maturity.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 4, 2021
This could have gone on for months or even years, in an unending round of guilt-trip Ping-Pong, except Jeffrey stopped us all in our tracks.
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
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
I think she uses it as a method of guilt-tripping me, and I wish she could recognize how hard I am trying.
From Slate ● Dec. 12, 2017
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.
