guilt
Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word guilt. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word guilt, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say guilt in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word guilt you have here. The definition of the word guilt will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofguilt, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ɡɪlt/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Homophone: gilt
- Rhymes: -ɪlt
Etymology 1
From Middle English gilt, gult, from Old English gylt (“guilt, sin, offense, crime, fault”), of obscure origin, but possibly related with Old English ġieldan (“to pay, requite, punish”), whence yield. More specifically it could be connected with Proto-West Germanic *guldijā, whence Middle Low German gülde, Middle High German gülte (“debt, fee, financial duty”). However, neither the Old English stem form nor the -t (instead of -d) fit the continental form.
Noun
guilt (usually uncountable, plural guilts)
- Responsibility for wrongdoing.
- Antonym: innocence
- (law) The state of having been found guilty or admitted guilt in legal proceedings.
- Antonym: innocence
- Regret for having done wrong.
- Synonym: remorse
- 2018, Timothy R. Jennings, The Aging Brain, →ISBN, page 158:
- 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.
Derived terms
Translations
responsibility for wrongdoing
|
legal
|
regret for having done wrong
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
See also
Etymology 2
From Middle English gilten, gylten, from Old English gyltan (“to commit sin, be guilty”), from gylt (“guilt, sin, offense, crime, fault”).
Verb
guilt (third-person singular simple present guilts, present participle guilting, simple past and past participle guilted)
- (intransitive, obsolete) To commit offenses; act criminally.
Etymology 3
From etymology 1.
Verb
guilt (third-person singular simple present guilts, present participle guilting, simple past and past participle guilted)
- (transitive, informal) 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.
- 1988, John Bradshaw, Healing the shame that binds you:
- Shame based parents would have guilted him for expressing anger.
- 1992, Melody Beattie, Codependent No More: how to stop controlling others and start caring for yourself:
- We don't have to be manipulated, guilted, coerced, or forced into anything.
- 1995, Nora Roberts, True Betrayals:
- But I won't be threatened or bribed or guilted into giving up something that's important to me.