1
: the fact of having committed a breach of conduct especially violating law and involving a penalty
A jury will determine the defendant's guilt or innocence.
broadly
: guilty conduct
2
a
: the state of one who has committed an offense especially consciously
His guilt was written in his face.
b
: feelings of deserving blame especially for imagined offenses or from a sense of inadequacy : self-reproach
3
: a feeling of deserving blame for offenses
Wracked by guilt, he confessed his affairs.
guilted; guilting; guilts
: to cause (someone) to feel guilty
Don't listen to Mommy. She's trying to guilt you.—
Gary Shteyngart
: to persuade (someone) to do something by causing feelings of guilt
Gary Shteyngart… guilting her to eat her own green beans because "there are starving children in Africa."—Katie Boerema
—often followed by intoKatie BoeremaA far stronger compulsion is created when people think they're being watched, as a mildly impressive 86 percent of people were guilted into washing their hands in one study.—Steve Lipsher
Steve LipsherSynonyms
Examples of guilt in a Sentence
Noun
The jury determines the defendant's guilt or innocence.
His guilt in the matter was indisputable.
It was clear that the guilt lay with him.
a strong sense of guilt
She feels guilt over something that happened before she was born!
our secret guilts and insecurities
Recent Examples on the WebAlan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 18 Apr. 2024
Rebecca is desperate to find the humanity in the perpetrators’ deeds as a way to absolve herself of past guilt, whereas Cam, an Indigenous woman, can’t help seeing the racial undertones framing the attack on Reena.
—Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 16 Apr. 2024
Her attorneys asked for a conditional discharge, wherein the court would place her on probation without entering an adjudication of guilt.
—Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 15 Apr. 2024
Both the Brown and Goldman families remain convinced of Simpson’s guilt.
—Kc Baker, Peoplemag, 11 Apr. 2024
No one likes pausing Succession to respond to a 9pm request, but the guilt of ignoring it and wondering whether your boss will be mad at you is also, like, not fun.
—Allison Morrow, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
David has imbued Larry with so much guilt, exceptionalism, cluelessness, terror, cowardice, innocence, avoidance, vindictive zeal, genuine curiosity and joie de vivre that the performance becomes what Larry loves: a buffet.
—Wesley Morris Ron Butler Emma Kehlbeck Ted Blaisdell, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2024
Israel’s swift public explanation and admission of guilt is rare, as is for such senior officers to be punished.
—Christian Edwards, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
Gill further alleged that his research of the victim was an admission of guilt.
—Olivia Diaz, Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2024
Tarot.com, Baltimore Sun, 13 Feb. 2024
Shock came first, then guilt: The children had been visiting her mother’s house.
—Rozina Ali, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2024
One of them has been repeatedly texting us, adamantly requesting, and even trying to guilt us into saving the guest bedroom for her.
—Jacobina Martin, Washington Post, 14 Dec. 2023
Don’t lecture, don’t explain, don’t guilt, don’t count to three and don’t give in.
—Meghan Leahy, Washington Post, 24 Oct. 2023
The suit also alleged that MacPherson would get Lewis expensive gifts such as luggage and Tiffany necklaces, and that MacPherson would guilt her into accepting them.
—Ethan Millman, Rolling Stone, 4 Oct. 2023
There are malware-like pop-ups in Windows 11 trying to guilt you into using Edge.
—Nathan Edwards, The Verge, 5 Sep. 2023
Wakanda Forever, Ruben Östlund's high-class social satire Triangle of Sadness feels the timeliest, with a self-skewering message of contemporary excess that might guilt Oscar voters into ticking it higher on their ballot rankings.
—Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 23 Dec. 2022
Jo also subtly guilts Lizzy into helping her nurse an injured bird, which Lizzy tried to quietly discard after her cat attacked it in her apartment the previous evening.
—Vikram Murthi, The New Republic, 12 Apr. 2023
Noun
Some of the new material has value, particularly middle chapters that focus on Durst’s remaining friends, and how and why these people refuse to cut him off despite the mounting evidence of his guilt.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 18 Apr. 2024
Rebecca is desperate to find the humanity in the perpetrators’ deeds as a way to absolve herself of past guilt, whereas Cam, an Indigenous woman, can’t help seeing the racial undertones framing the attack on Reena.
—Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 16 Apr. 2024
Her attorneys asked for a conditional discharge, wherein the court would place her on probation without entering an adjudication of guilt.
—Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 15 Apr. 2024
Both the Brown and Goldman families remain convinced of Simpson’s guilt.
—Kc Baker, Peoplemag, 11 Apr. 2024
No one likes pausing Succession to respond to a 9pm request, but the guilt of ignoring it and wondering whether your boss will be mad at you is also, like, not fun.
—Allison Morrow, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
David has imbued Larry with so much guilt, exceptionalism, cluelessness, terror, cowardice, innocence, avoidance, vindictive zeal, genuine curiosity and joie de vivre that the performance becomes what Larry loves: a buffet.
—Wesley Morris Ron Butler Emma Kehlbeck Ted Blaisdell, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2024
Israel’s swift public explanation and admission of guilt is rare, as is for such senior officers to be punished.
—Christian Edwards, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
Gill further alleged that his research of the victim was an admission of guilt.
—Olivia Diaz, Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2024
Verb
Trying to guilt yourself out of it probably won’t help.
—Tarot.com, Baltimore Sun, 13 Feb. 2024
Shock came first, then guilt: The children had been visiting her mother’s house.
—Rozina Ali, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2024
One of them has been repeatedly texting us, adamantly requesting, and even trying to guilt us into saving the guest bedroom for her.
—Jacobina Martin, Washington Post, 14 Dec. 2023
Don’t lecture, don’t explain, don’t guilt, don’t count to three and don’t give in.
—Meghan Leahy, Washington Post, 24 Oct. 2023
The suit also alleged that MacPherson would get Lewis expensive gifts such as luggage and Tiffany necklaces, and that MacPherson would guilt her into accepting them.
—Ethan Millman, Rolling Stone, 4 Oct. 2023
There are malware-like pop-ups in Windows 11 trying to guilt you into using Edge.
—Nathan Edwards, The Verge, 5 Sep. 2023
Wakanda Forever, Ruben Östlund's high-class social satire Triangle of Sadness feels the timeliest, with a self-skewering message of contemporary excess that might guilt Oscar voters into ticking it higher on their ballot rankings.
—Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 23 Dec. 2022
Jo also subtly guilts Lizzy into helping her nurse an injured bird, which Lizzy tried to quietly discard after her cat attacked it in her apartment the previous evening.
—Vikram Murthi, The New Republic, 12 Apr. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'guilt.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near guilt
Cite this Entry
“Guilt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guilt. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
guilt
noun1
: the fact of having done something wrong and especially something that is punishable by law
2
: the state of one who has done something wrong : blameworthiness
3
: a feeling of responsibility for wrongdoing
guiltless
adjective
-ləs
Medical Definition
guilt
noun
: feelings of culpability especially for imagined offenses or from a sense of inadequacy : morbid self-reproach often manifest in marked preoccupation with the moral correctness of one's behavior
aggressive responses originating in inner guilt and uncertainty
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