guilt trip
noun
a feeling of guilt or responsibility, especially one not justified by reality.
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guilt trip
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guilt-trip
guilt-tripverb (used with object)to attempt to instill a guilt trip in; play upon the guilt feelings of.
guilt trip
1 Americannoun
guilt-trip
2
American
[gilt-trip]
/ ˈgɪltˌtrɪp /
verb (used with object)
guilt-tripped,
guilt-tripping
Etymology
Origin of guilt-trip
First recorded in 1975–80
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"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
This paradox is Thomson’s central concern throughout the book, but that doesn’t mean “The Fatal Alliance” is a book-length guilt trip.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2023
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
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
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
If I was lucky, I could guilt-trip some scholarships out of a school or two, the way my parents had done with Hillpark.
From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia
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
Health secretary Wes Streeting said he was worried the law would risk ill people feeling "guilt-tripped" into ending their own lives.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 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
A Rolling Stone encomium for XXXTentacion, all but guilt-tripping music fans to appreciate the late musician’s musical accomplishments, claims—fairly—that Onfroy will go down as the signal artist of his “SoundCloud rap” generation: morose, multigenre, mellifluous.
From Slate ● Jun. 28, 2018
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.
