guilt
verbEtymology From Middle English gilten, gylten, from Old English gyltan (“to commit sin, be guilty”), from gylt (“guilt, sin, offense, crime, fault”).
1
Obsolete To commit offenses; act criminally.
guilt
nounUS, UK /ɡɪlt/
Etymology From Middle English gilt, gult, from Old English gylt (“guilt, sin, offense, crime, fault”), of obscure origin. Possibly related with Old English ġieldan (“to pay, requite, punish”) (whence yield), from Proto-West Germanic *guldijā (whence Middle High German gülte (“debt, fee, financial duty”), Middle Low German gülde, German Gülte), from Proto-West Germanic *geldan (“to pay for”), from Proto-Germanic *geldaną (“to pay”). However, neither the Old English stem form nor its ending -t (instead of -d) fit the continental form.
1
Usually Responsibility for wrongdoing.
2
Law Usually The state of having been found guilty or admitted guilt in legal proceedings.
3
Usually Regret for having done wrong.
- 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.2018, Timothy R. Jennings, The Aging Brain, →ISBN, page 158:
- Synonyms
- blameworthiness, culpability, guilt, guiltiness, noninnocence, uninnocence
- Antonyms
- innocence
- Derived terms
29 terms
beguilt, bloodguilt, ecoguilt, forguilt, guilt by association, guilt complex, guilter, guiltfree, guilt lane, guiltless, guiltlessness, guiltlike, guilt offering, guilt-ridden, guiltridden, guilt-sick, guilt trip, guilt-trip, guilt-trippy, guiltware, guilty, liberal guilt, magician's guilt, misguilt, nonguilt, self-guilt, survivor guilt, unguilt, white guilt- Hypernyms
- state
- Hyponyms
- criminality, criminousness, sinfulness