Library / English Dictionary

GUILT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Remorse caused by feeling responsible for some offense

Synonyms:

guilt; guilt feelings; guilt trip; guilty conscience

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("guilt" is a kind of...):

compunction; remorse; self-reproach (a feeling of deep regret (usually for some misdeed))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "guilt"):

survivor guilt (a deep feeling of guilt often experienced by those who have survived some catastrophe that took the lives of many others; derives in part from a feeling that they did not do enough to save the others who perished and in part from feelings of being unworthy relative to those who died)

Derivation:

guilty (showing a sense of guilt)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The state of having committed an offense

Synonyms:

guilt; guiltiness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("guilt" is a kind of...):

condition; status (a state at a particular time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "guilt"):

blameworthiness; culpability; culpableness (a state of guilt)

bloodguilt (the state of being guilty of bloodshed and murder)

complicity (guilt as an accomplice in a crime or offense)

criminalism; criminality; criminalness (the state of being a criminal)

guilt by association (the attribution of guilt (without proof) to individuals because the people they associate with are guilty)

impeachability; indictability (the state of being liable to impeachment)

Antonym:

innocence (a state or condition of being innocent of a specific crime or offense)

Derivation:

guilty (responsible for or chargeable with a reprehensible act)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I brought the paper back with me, and thought of destroying it, since I could see no way of returning it without confessing my guilt to my husband.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It certainly is a most iniquitous affair, said Mr. Bennet, and nothing can clear Mr. Collins from the guilt of inheriting Longbourn.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

You have neither of you any doubt as to your son’s guilt?

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Maria's guilt had induced Julia's folly.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Have I explained away any part of my guilt?

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I hardly know what I said to him, but the facts were so deadly that he did not attempt to deny his guilt.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The man who had the guilt upon his soul of having brought such a fate upon his own family might well be driven by remorse to inflict it upon himself.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And it may lessen his guilt if I say that it was done in self-defence, and that John Straker was a man who was entirely unworthy of your confidence.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An unpleasant emotional state experienced upon having an inadequacy, guilt, or socially unacceptable act or trait witnessed by or revealed to others.

(Embarrassment, NCI Thesaurus)

The next day, came the news that the murder had not been overlooked, that the guilt of Hyde was patent to the world, and that the victim was a man high in public estimation.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)