GUILTS Synonyms: 52 Similar and Opposite Words

guilt

noun

ˈgilt

Definition of guilt

as in remorse

a feeling of responsibility for wrongdoing he was wracked with guilt after he accidentally broke his sister's antique grandfather clock

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in blame

responsibility for wrongdoing or failure the chief financial officer was saddled with the guilt for the company's failure

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of guilt At a bond hearing earlier this year, Fernandez Saldana’s attorney said there was no proof his client’s guilt was evident, CNN affiliate Action News Jax reported. — Danya Gainor, CNN Money, 17 Aug. 2026 The point is that an inquisition’s social cost is so high that its victims’ guilt or innocence is only part of the accounting. — Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026 Most Popular At that moment any guilt Queen Victoria had about the stone melted away. — Hadley Hall Meares, Vanity Fair, 17 Aug. 2026 An indictment is a formal accusation and does not constitute a finding of guilt. — Cbs News Atlanta Digital Team, CBS News, 16 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for guilt

Recent Examples of Synonyms for guilt

Noun

But what ultimately saves the film is Hathaway's remarkable restraint in conveying Kym's deep pain and remorse over an unimaginable family tragedy.

— Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 15 Aug. 2026
Visits by Japanese leaders frequently draw criticism from China and South Korea, which see them as a sign of insufficient remorse for Japan’s wartime aggression.

— ABC News, ABC News, 14 Aug. 2026

Definition of remorse

Noun

Where to lay the blame But researchers warn against blaming the emergence of an economy based on young men’s insecurities on one particular influencer.

— Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 15 Aug. 2026
Once again, international organizations removed Hamas and their share of the blame for Gaza’s suffering from the conversation, stoking the anti-Israel narrative.

— Beth Bailey, FOXNews.com, 13 Aug. 2026

Definition of blame

Noun

Those patterns eventually point to no-regrets moves and larger strategic shifts.

— Dev Patnaik, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026
Amid the chatter about comeuppance, the celebrity blogger’s sister said that her brother is a good person who has expressed regret over the tone of some of his early-career scandals.

— Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 13 Aug. 2026

Definition of regret

Noun

Based upon their replies, occupying Allied officials ranked their culpability, then tried the worst offenders — most famously in the Nuremberg trials, but also in numerous local tribunals.

— Fern Schumer Chapman, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2026
But the legal system’s binary standard—sane and guilty, or insane and not—fits imperfectly with human intuitions about culpability in tragedies like the Clancys’.

— Eren Orbey, New Yorker, 30 July 2026

Definition of culpability

Noun

Secrecy around taking a GLP-1 can also contribute to shame and stigma about medication.

— CNN Money, CNN Money, 17 Aug. 2026
Shame on Darien and shame on Little League Baseball for allowing a rule to intentionally walk a 12-year-old, not once but a couple of times.

— Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 16 Aug. 2026