guilt
/ɡɪlt/
guilt noun: responsibility for wrongdoing. Also the obsolete form of gilt.
Noun
guilt (usually uncountable, plural guilts)
- Responsibility for wrongdoing.
- Synonyms:
- guiltiness
- Antonyms:
- innocence, blamelessness, cleanness, inculpability, innocency, guiltlessness, unguilt
- The state of having been found guilty or admitted guilt in legal proceedings.
- Antonyms:
- innocence
- Regret for having done wrong.
- Appropriate guilt is experienced when we actually do something objectively wrong—for example, exploit another, betray a trust, and so on. […] Inappropriate guilt occurs from believing a lie and is resolved by an application of the truth.2018, Timothy R. Jennings, The Aging Brain, →ISBN, page 158
- Synonyms:
- remorse, agenbite, rue, ruth, compunction, contrition, penitence, repentance, self-reproach, sorriness
Verb (1)
guilt (third-person singular simple present guilts, present participle guilting, simple past and past participle guilted)
- To commit offenses; act criminally.
Verb (2)
guilt (third-person singular simple present guilts, present participle guilting, simple past and past participle guilted)
- To cause someone to feel guilt, particularly in order to influence their behaviour.
- He didn't want to do it, but his wife guilted him into it.
- Shame based parents would have guilted him for expressing anger.1988, John Bradshaw, Healing the shame that binds you
Also used as
guilt is also the obsolete form of gilt.
guilt meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
guilt in Hindi
- responsibility for wrongdoing
- अपराध aprādh, क़सूर qasūr, दोष doṣ, ऐब aib
- regret for having done wrong
- अपराधबोध aprādhbodh, आत्मग्लानि ātmaglāni, दोष-भावना doṣ-bhāvnā, दोषबोध doṣbodh, अपराध-भावना aprādh-bhāvnā
guilt in Tamil
- responsibility for wrongdoing
- குற்றம் kuṟṟam
- legal
- குற்றம் kuṟṟam
- regret for having done wrong
- குற்ற உணர்வு kuṟṟa uṇarvu, குற்ற உணர்ச்சி kuṟṟa uṇarcci
guilt in Marathi
- अपराधीपणा
guilt in Urdu
- responsibility for wrongdoing
- قَصُور qasūr, گُناہ gunāh, اَپْرادھ aprādh, جُرْم jurm, عَیب 'aib
More languagesFewer languages
- guilt in Bengali
- দোষ dōś, অপরাধবোধ opradhbōdh
- guilt in Telugu
- అపరాధభావన aparādhabhāvana
- guilt in Malayalam
- കുറ്റബോധം kuṟṟabōdhaṁ
- guilt in Gujarati
- અપરાધબોધ
- guilt in Odia
- ଅପରାଧବୋଧ, ଦୋଷବୋଧ
- guilt in Assamese
- দোষ düx
- guilt in Pashto
- ګناه gwənā
- guilt in Tagalog
- kasalanan
- guilt in Arabic
- ذَنْب ḏanb, خِطْء ḵiṭʔ, إِثْم ʔiṯm, جُرْم jurm
- guilt in Malay
- bersalah
- guilt in Indonesian
- kesalahan
- guilt in Thai
- ความรู้สึกผิด kwaam-rúu-sʉ̀k-pìt, ตราบาป dtraa-bàap, ความผิด kwaam-pìt
- guilt in Vietnamese
- điều sai quấy, lỗi, lỗi lầm, tội lỗi
- guilt in Myanmar
- အပြစ် a.prac
Examples of guilt in a sentence
- We don't have to be manipulated, guilted, coerced, or forced into anything.1992, Melody Beattie, Codependent No More: how to stop controlling others and start caring for yourself:
- But I won't be threatened or bribed or guilted into giving up something that's important to me.1995, Nora Roberts, True Betrayals:
Synonyms of guilt
- guiltiness
- remorse
- agenbite
- compunction
- contrition
- penitence
- repentance
- self-reproach
- sorriness
- blameworthiness
5 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of guilt
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | guilts |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | guilts |
| present participle | guilting |
| past participle | guilted |
| past | guilted |
Origin of guilt
From Middle English gilt, gult, from Old English gylt (“guilt, sin, offense, crime, fault”), of obscure origin. Possibly related with Old English ġieldan (“to pay, requite, punish”) (whence yield), from Proto-West Germanic *guldijā (whence Middle High German gülte (“debt, fee, financial duty”), Middle Low German gülde, German Gülte), from Proto-West Germanic *geldan (“to pay for”), from Proto-Germanic *geldaną (“to pay”). However, neither the Old English stem form nor its ending -t (instead of -d) fit the continental form.
From Middle English gilten, gylten, from Old English gyltan (“to commit sin, be guilty”), from gylt (“guilt, sin, offense, crime, fault”).
From Etymology 1.
Words formed from guilt
- beguilt
- bloodguilt
- ecoguilt
- forguilt
- guilt by association
- guilt complex
- guilter
- guiltfree
- guilt lane
- guiltless
- guiltlessness
- guiltlike
- guilt offering
- guilt-ridden
- guiltridden
- guilt-sick
- guilt trip
- guilt-trip
- guilt-trippy
- guiltware
- guilty
- liberal guilt
- magician's guilt
- misguilt
- nonguilt
- self-guilt
- survivor guilt
- unguilt
- white guilt
Phrases with guilt
Words that rhyme with guilt
7 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about guilt
- What does guilt mean?
- Guilt means responsibility for wrongdoing.
- What is guilt in Hindi?
- Guilt in Hindi is अपराध (aprādh), क़सूर (qasūr), दोष (doṣ). See Guilt meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use guilt in a sentence?
- We don't have to be manipulated, guilted, coerced, or forced into anything.
- What part of speech is guilt?
- Guilt can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce guilt?
- Guilt is pronounced /ɡɪlt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of guilt?
- The plural of guilt is guilts.
Words near guilt in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: guilt (page history and authors); guilt (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); guilt (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); guilt (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-guilt.wav.
Cite this entry: “guilt.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/guilt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.