guilt

[gilt] /gɪlt/
noun
1.
the fact or state of having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong, especially against moral or penal law; culpability:
He admitted his guilt.
2.
a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined.
3.
conduct involving the commission of such crimes, wrongs, etc.:
to live a life of guilt.
verb (used with object), Informal.
4.
to cause to feel guilty (often followed by out or into):
She totally guilted me out, dude. He guilted me into picking up the tab.
See also guilt-trip.
Origin
before 1000; Middle English gilt, Old English gylt offense
Related forms
nonguilt, noun
preguilt, noun
Can be confused
gild, gilt, guild, guilt.
Synonyms
3. criminality.
Antonyms
1. innocence.
Examples from the web for guilt
  • There is much to hide: if not culpability for crimes, or being witness to a crime, then guilt for failing to push back or flee.
  • The law requires the prosecution to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
  • What kind of dentistry museum would this be if it didn't guilt visitors into thinking.
  • Generally the accused does not conduct the investigation into his own guilt.
  • For me there's a lot of survivor's guilt about the three people who didn't get out of my office that day.
  • So he installed fake turf and got the look without the guilt.
  • The heathen way to make guilt personal is to make it personal, and not talk about it.
  • It would be such a relief to finally accept that a different path is for me and to let go of the guilt and uncertainty.
  • guilt beyond a reasonable doubt doesn't mean guilt beyond every fantastic possibility.
  • He admitted his guilt but tried to claim it was self-defense.
British Dictionary definitions for guilt

guilt

/ɡɪlt/
noun
1.
the fact or state of having done wrong or committed an offence
2.
responsibility for a criminal or moral offence deserving punishment or a penalty
3.
remorse or self-reproach caused by feeling that one is responsible for a wrong or offence
4.
(archaic) sin or crime
Word Origin
Old English gylt, of obscure origin
Contemporary definitions for guilt
verb

to make someone feel guilty, esp. in hopes of getting them to do something

Examples

He guilted her into calling her mother-in-law.

Word Origin and History for guilt
n.

Old English gylt "crime, sin, fault, fine," of unknown origin, though some suspect a connection to Old English gieldan "to pay for, debt," but OED editors find this "inadmissible phonologically." The mistaken use for "sense of guilt" is first recorded 1680s. Guilt by association recorded by 1919.

v.

"to influence someone by appealing to his sense of guiltiness," by 1995, from guilt (n.). Related: Guilted; guilting. Old English also had a verbal form, gyltan "to commit an offense."