guilt

Meaning

Noun

1. (uncountable, usually) Responsibility for wrongdoing.
2. (uncountable, usually) The state of having been found guilty or admitted guilt in legal proceedings.
3. (uncountable, usually) Regret for having done wrong.

Verb

To commit offenses; act criminally.

Verb

To cause someone to feel guilt, particularly in order to influence their behaviour.

Adj

Obsolete form of gilt (“gilded”)

Opposite of

innocence

Synonyms

fault

crime

blame

sin

culpability

offense

offence

guiltiness

shame

punishment

transgression

remorse

vice

guilty conscience

criminality

culpableness

responsibility

error

guilty

guilt feelings

guilt trip

conscience

violation

wickedness

wrong

wrongdoing

loss of innocence

feeling of guilt

pang of conscience

charges

culpable

delinquency

event

evil

implication

infamy

iniquity

innocent

😇

liability

malefaction

mistake

accusation

patient

peccability

penalty

penitence

persecution

scandal

sense of guilt

suffering

Translations

colpa

culpabilité

culpa

Schuld

ενοχή

culpa

schuld

culpa

culpabilidad

colpevolezza

culpabilitat

crimen

senso di colpa

faute

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɡɪlt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: gilt

Inherited from Old English: gylt

Cognate with Middle Low German: gülde

Cognate with Middle High German: gülte

In summary

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.