guilty
Americanadjective
-
guiltier,
comparative
-
guiltiest
superlative
-
having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong, especially against moral or penal law; justly subject to a certain accusation or penalty; culpable.
The jury found her guilty of murder.
-
characterized by, connected with, or involving guilt.
guilty intent.
-
having or showing a sense of guilt, whether real or imagined.
a guilty conscience.
adjective
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responsible for an offence or misdeed
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law having committed an offence or adjudged to have done so
the accused was found guilty
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law (of a person charged with an offence) to admit responsibility; confess
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of, showing, or characterized by guilt
a guilty smile
guilty pleasures
Usage
What does guilty mean? If you’re guilty, it means you were responsible for doing something wrong, especially a crime. If you’re found guilty, it means a jury has officially decided that you committed a crime. If you feel guilty, it means you feel bad about something you shouldn’t have done or should have done but didn’t. In a legal context, guilty is the opposite of innocent (not guilty). It is often used in an official sense, but not always. Example: Once when I was a kid I shoplifted a stick of gum from the store and felt so guilty about it that I was crying by the time I got home.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of guilty
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English gyltig; equivalent to guilt + -y 1
Compare meaning
How does guilty compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Someone guilty has done something wrong or illegal. And when you do something wrong, you feel guilty — bad or sorry — about it. The police are responsible for finding out who’s guilty of a crime so they can be arrested, convicted, and punished. But you can also be guilty of smaller, more legal things, like cheating on a test, breaking the rules of a game, or thinking awful things. If you’ve done it, then you’re guilty of it: so if someone asks if you have a crush on your swim instructor, you can say “guilty!”
Vocabulary lists containing guilty
In the Mood? 100 Words to Describe Emotions
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Feeling Sorry?
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Hooked on a Feeling, List 2
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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:
Meanwhile, Manchester City - the top-flight's dominant side over the past decade - are facing a period of uncertainty after the club was recently found guilty of breaching financial rules over nine years.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
And a third client chose to plead guilty in his criminal case rather than go to jury trial, despite Barraza’s advice that the case was worth fighting, for fear of being arrested by ICE.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
Early on, after Jeanie has forgotten to pick her up from school and Delia flounces upstairs, a guilty Jeanie begs Delia to come down and talk rather than bicker by text.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Flores, who wore the same brown prison jumpsuit as Maduro, said: "I am completely innocent, I am not guilty."
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
I have to act sad, guilty, ready for change, or whatever else that pamphlet Mom shoved under my door said.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
A guiltier pleasure is attempting to go above and beyond anything your parents may have done for you.
From Salon ● Dec. 25, 2024
This would make any nurse look guiltier with each job change.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 18, 2023
She wrote that his “fictionalized version of me is just the tabloid conspiracy guiltier version of me.”
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 30, 2021
Other, more experienced teammates were far guiltier of errors in a higher level of schooling than being loaned to Vitesse Arnhem or the Championship.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 12, 2019
Chris was smiling at him in pure sweetness, which made Theo feel even guiltier about his resentment.
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
For the brave viewer ready to commit to the summer’s guiltiest pleasure, here’s a complete guide.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2022
It’s a very human impulse to always be angriest about the things you’re guiltiest of doing to other people.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 11, 2018
But as of today, you are as guilty as your guiltiest client, and your representation of that client—especially if it is both zealous and successful—is now disqualifying as well.
From Slate ● Mar. 5, 2014
The guiltiest of pleasures might be derived from the annual chronicles of bonus season on Wall Street.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2013
Josie couldn’t even tell which specific scene he was talking about, or which awful thing one of them had done to the other she felt maddest or guiltiest about.
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
