guilty pleasure

American

[gil-tee plezh-er] / ˈgɪl ti ˈplɛʒ ər /

noun

an activity, habit, food, etc., that a person feels shame or guilt for enjoying, often because they feel they will be judged by others.

TV shows meant for teens are a guilty pleasure many adults just can't get enough of.
Eating healthfully is important, but treating yourself to a guilty pleasure from time to time is definitely not a crime.

Etymology

Origin of guilty pleasure

First recorded in 1680–90

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.

Fried dough has scratched guilty pleasure for millennia.

From Salon • Feb. 5, 2026

People eat these shows like candy, and while candy can rot your teeth and put on pounds, it can also deliver a jolt of guilty pleasure and feed a sugar addiction.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2026

It is very much a guilty pleasure of mine.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 1, 2025

She said that TikTok was "everyone's guilty pleasure".

From BBC • Dec. 3, 2024

Only recendy a sleepy village, Tijuana was fashioning itself into California’s guilty pleasure.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023