Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use guilt in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Guilt means responsibility for wrongdoing. Example: “He didn't want to do it, but his wife guilted him into it.”

Examples of guilt by meaning

verbTo 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
  • 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

More sentences with guilt

  • The court returned a sentence of guilt in the first charge, but innocence in the second.From the entry sentence
  • The prosecution presented a cogent argument, convincing the jury of the defendant's guilt.From the entry cogent
  • Annexed to my feeling of guilt was a sense of having let my familiy down.From the entry annex
  • It is now time for the jury to deliberate the guilt of the defendant.From the entry deliberate
  • Criminals are sometimes admissive of their guilt and compassionate toward victims.From the entry admissive
  • All the evidence points toward the defendant's guilt. I rest my case.From the entry I rest my case
  • The nonconfessing defendant refused to comment on his codefendant's admission of guilt.From the entry nonconfessing
  • Some of the guilt must attach to the parents.From the entry attach
  • Their assumption of his guilt disqualified them from jury duty.From the entry assumption
  • His calm demeanor belied his inner sense of guilt.From the entry belie
  • Guilt is a powerful emotion in the moment, but it's easy to ignore once it's in the rear-view mirror.From the entry rear-view mirror
  • The guilt of having lied was eating away at him.From the entry eat away
  • He accepted his guilt and the conviction was unappealed.From the entry unappealed
  • His guilt had cut into him, leaving him depressed.From the entry cut into
  • One’s guilt may trouble one, but it is best not to let oneself be troubled by things which cannot be changed. One shouldn’t be too quick to judge.From the entry one
  • Carbon offsets do seem to offer the most direct way to assuage traveler’s guilt.2019 June 3, Andy Newman, “If Seeing the World Helps Ruin It, Should We Stay Home?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry carbon offset
  • Market research also revealed a considerable degree of guilt among parents.2019, Svend Hollensen, Marketing Management, Pearson Education, →ISBN, Increasing CLTV, unnumbered page. From the entry huggie
  • Every time he thinks about Nomzamo, guilt takes a chunkful bite at his heart.2015, Dumisani Hlatshwayo, Total Bliss. From the entry chunkful
  • In a Kennedy Plea, the person does not accept guilt, but accepts the punishment for the crime.2014, WSAZ News Staff, "Jerel Garner Enters "Kennedy Plea" in Donte Newsome's Shooting Death", on WSAZ.com, 9 Sept. 2014. From the entry Kennedy plea
  • You respond with an honest denial, which is then used as further confirmation of your guilt.2014 August 14, Wendy McElroy, “Beware of Kafkatrapping”, in The Daily Bell. From the entry kafkatrapping
  • If your hate-watching involves guilt, you are not doing it in the proper spirit.2013 February 24, Christopher Borrelli, “What does hate-watching mean?”, in Chicago Tribune. From the entry hate-watchable
  • How can you find your wings to fly when rocks of self guilt keep holding you down?2013, Lynette Leckie-Clark, The Magic of You: Stepping into Your Cosmic Body, page 61. From the entry self-guilt
  • Is this some kind of reference to Catholic guilt, or merely a snatch of surreal Milliganesque nonsense?2008, Chris Gregory, Who Could Ask for More?: Reclaiming The Beatles, page 223. From the entry Milliganesque
  • And we could then feel more "down" with more unconscious guilt.2007, David W. Shave, Small Talk--big Cure!: Talking Your Way to a Better Life, page 58. From the entry down
  • You also may experience feelings of guilt, which is anger turned inward on yourself.2005, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, David Kessler, On Grief and Grieving, →ISBN, page 16. From the entry inward
  • You may find that upcroppings of guilt can plague you for months after a pregnancy loss.2004, Maureen Rank, Free to Grieve. From the entry upcropping
  • Guilt 'cos I always s'vived an' 'scaped despite my dirtsome'n'stony soul.2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Sceptre (Hodder and Stoughton), →ISBN. From the entry dirtsome
  • Mature guilt is a far cry from the early manifestations of guilt and guiltlike behavior in childhood.2001, Martin L Hoffman, Empathy and moral development: implications for caring and justice. From the entry guiltlike
  • Refusal to drink was also an indication of guilt, in which case the accused was executed.2000, James E. Christie, Juju, Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, →ISBN, part III (War), page 423. From the entry sassywood
  • Is white guilt supposed to make me forget I'm running a business?1997, Quentin Tarantino, Jackie Brown, spoken by Max Cherry (Robert Forster). From the entry white guilt
  • I may not evermore acknowledge thee, lest my bewiled guilt should do thee shame.1995, Constance O'Banyon, La Flamme. From the entry bewile
  • Oversocialization can lead to low self-esteem, a sense of powerlessness, defeatism, guilt, etc.1995, Theodore Kaczynski, Industrial Society and Its Future. From the entry oversocialization
  • Using techniques of character invalidation (i.e. humiliation), shouting to induce feelings of guilt, fear and suggestibility.1992 February 2, H. Askins, “Unthinkable Discrimination”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 28, page 5. From the entry suggestibility
  • Real religion is always a process of unguilting; false religions are always a process of guilting.1977, Osho, Yoga Sudha (Ma.), Deva Bhasha (Ma.), The beloved: songs of the Baul mystics. From the entry unguilting
  • They are as it were, the actus rei of matrimonial guilt.1970, Pacific Law Journal (published by the students of the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law), volume 1, page 194. From the entry actus rei
  • Someone is to blame: guilt is on someone’s soul; blood is on his hands.1970 March 7, Fulton J[ohn] Sheen, “Protest Key to Freedom? Need Now for Responsibility, Character”, in Courier-Post, Home edition, volume…. From the entry tua culpa
  • He looked at his wife’s body with suspicion and his own with infuriate guilt.1951, William Styron, chapter 2, in Lie Down in Darkness, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, page 51. From the entry infuriate

Meaning of guilt

  1. noun Responsibility for wrongdoing.
  2. noun The state of having been found guilty or admitted guilt in legal proceedings.
  3. noun Regret for having done wrong.

Full definition of guilt

Questions about guilt in a sentence

How do you use guilt in a sentence?
Guilt is used as a noun and verb. For example: “He didn't want to do it, but his wife guilted him into it.”
What is a short sentence with guilt?
“He accepted his guilt and the conviction was unappealed.”
What does guilt mean?
Guilt means responsibility for wrongdoing.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: guilt (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use guilt in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/guilt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.