guilty

[gil-tee]

adjective

guiltier, guiltiest 

1. 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.

2. characterized by, connected with, or involving guilt.

   guilty intent.

   Synonyms: nefarious, illicit, culpable, felonious, criminal

3. having or showing a sense of guilt, whether real or imagined.

   a guilty conscience.

guilty

/ ˈɡɪltɪ /

adjective

1. responsible for an offence or misdeed

2. law having committed an offence or adjudged to have done so

   the accused was found guilty

3. law (of a person charged with an offence) to admit responsibility; confess

4. of, showing, or characterized by guilt

   a guilty smile

   guilty pleasures

Other Word Forms

• guiltiness noun
• guiltily adverb
• overguilty adjective
• quasi-guiltily adverb
• quasi-guilty adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of guilty¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English gyltig; equivalent to guilt + -y ¹

Example Sentences

He pleaded guilty to 35 counts of fraud by false representation, one of which related to Mrs Beverley.

Read more on BBC

The trio were also convicted of collecting information likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism, while Ringrose was found guilty of manufacturing a prohibited weapon.

Read more on Barron's

Bolton, 76, was charged Thursday with mishandling classified information, two months after FBI agents searched his Washington office and home in Bethesda, Md. He pleaded not guilty Friday at a federal court in Maryland.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Throughout the four-week trial, Jubillar maintained his innocence but was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to 30 years in jail.

Read more on BBC

Chowdhury pleaded guilty in July but has not been handed a sentence.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• convicted 
• culpable 
• liable 
• remorseful 
• responsible 
• sorry 
• wrong 

When To Use

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.