Agency Dictionary

Guilt

noun

In Portuguese: Culpa

Psychology & Mind

What does “Guilt” mean?

A remorseful emotional feeling arising from the awareness or belief of having done something wrong or failed an obligation. In sports, athletes often feel acute guilt after making a costly mistake in competition.

Etymology

From Middle English gilt and gult, from Old English gylt, "sin, offence, crime, fault". The further origin is obscure. A link with Old English gieldan, "to pay", the source of yield, has been proposed, which would make guilt at first a debt, but the forms do not match well and the question is open. The old sense is the fact of having done wrong; the sense of the painful feeling of having done wrong came later.

Usage note

The u is silent and only marks the hard g. Guilt is both a fact established by a court and a feeling; to guilt someone into doing something is informal.

Synonyms

remorse
regret
contrition
self-reproach
shame
culpability

Often confused with

shame: Guilt concerns an act ("I did something bad"); shame concerns the self seen by others ("I am bad").
gilt: Gilt, pronounced the same, means covered with a thin layer of gold.

Word family

guilty
guiltily
guiltless
guilt-ridden

Rhymes with

built
tilt
quilt
wilt
kilt
hilt
silt
spilt

Concepts

Source editions

Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.

Issue.17 - SportsmanshipJune 26, 2023Read the edition

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Also from these editions: terms

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