INDEX:
guilty of doing something bad
1. guilty
2. someone who is guilty
3. to show that someone is guilty
4. to deliberately try to make someone seem guilty when they are not
5. to officially prove that someone is guilty
to feel guilty
6. to feel guilty
7. a guilty feeling
8. to not feel guilty about something
9. to stop yourself feeling guilty
RELATED WORDS
see also
↑ ASHAMED
↑ SORRY/APOLOGIZE
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1. guilty
▷ guilty /ˈgɪlti/ [adjective]
if someone is guilty of a crime, he or she is the person that did it :
▪ The guilty were each given a life sentence.
find somebody guilty
decide in a law court that someone is guilty
▪ The jury found Sewell guilty and he was sent to prison.
guilty of murder/rape/a crime etc
▪ A 23-year-old woman was found guilty of murder in the Central Court today.
guilty of doing something
▪ Davis was found guilty of abducting and killing Polly Klaas.
plead guilty
say in a law court that you are guilty of a crime
▪ Roberts pleaded guilty to driving without insurance.
▷ responsible /rɪˈspɒnsɪb ə l, rɪˈspɒnsəb ə lǁrɪˈspɑːn-/ [adjective not before noun]
if someone is responsible for a crime, accident, or mistake, they did it or made it happen :
▪ The other driver was responsible for the accident, and he should pay for the damage.
responsible for
▪ Police believe a local gang is responsible for the recent burglaries.
▪ Mrs Williams says that the hospital was responsible for her husband’s death.
▷ culpable /ˈkʌlpəb ə l/ [adjective]
guilty of causing something bad to happen, especially because you did not do anything to prevent it - used especially in formal or legal contexts :
▪ If people develop smoking-related diseases, are they or the tobacco companies culpable?
▪ Lawyers are debating whether allowing a terminally ill patient to die amounts to culpable homicide a legal decision that someone was criminally guilty of the death .
2. someone who is guilty
▷ culprit /ˈkʌlprɪt, ˈkʌlprət/ [countable noun]
someone who has done something wrong, especially a crime :
the culprit
▪ Some money was taken from my desk yesterday. I think I know who the culprit is.
▪ The police did everything they could to try and track down the culprit, but he was never caught.
▷ guilty party /ˌgɪlti ˈpɑːʳti/ [noun phrase] formal
the person who is considered to be responsible for a crime or for doing something wrong, especially when two people are blaming each other :
▪ We think we know who the guilty party is, but we need your help to find the evidence.
▪ It’s silly to imagine that one partner in a divorce is completely innocent and that the other is the sole guilty party.
3. to show that someone is guilty
▷ implicate /ˈɪmplɪkeɪt, ˈɪmpləkeɪt/ [transitive verb]
to show or seem to show that someone is involved in something bad or illegal :
▪ She is claiming that the police are deliberately trying to implicate her.
implicate somebody in something
▪ New evidence implicates Mr Stapleton and his wife in the blackmail attempt.
▪ The managing director of the bank was implicated in a fraud scandal.
▷ incriminating /ɪmˈkrɪmɪneɪtɪŋ, ɪmˈkrɪməneɪtɪŋ/ [adjective]
use this about documents, tapes, photographs, statements etc that seem to show that someone is guilty of a crime :
▪ The killer left an incriminating trail of footprints across the lawn.
▪ Police found incriminating letters in the suspect’s home.
incriminating evidence
▪ They tried to dispose of the incriminating evidence by burning all their blood-stained clothes.
▷ incriminate /ɪnˈkrɪmɪneɪt, ɪnˈkrɪməneɪt/ [transitive verb]
to make someone seem guilty of a crime :
▪ Tape recordings of alleged conversations between the two suspects are unlikely to incriminate them.
▪ These tapes incriminate a number of well-known politicians.
4. to deliberately try to make someone seem guilty when they are not
▷ set up also fit up/stitch up British /ˌset ˈʌp, ˌfɪt ˈʌp, ˌstɪtʃ ˈʌp/ [transitive phrasal verb usually in passive] informal
to deliberately make it seem that someone is guilty of a crime that they are not really guilty of :
set up somebody
▪ He wasn’t guilty of the fraud. He’d been set up by his business rivals.
set somebody up
▪ Cahill has always protested his innocence, and insists that someone set him up.
▷ frame /freɪm/ [transitive verb]
to make someone seem guilty of a crime, especially by providing something that seems like proof :
▪ That’s not my handwriting and it’s not my signature! I’ve been framed.
▪ Healey agreed to defend two young men, who were being framed in a local murder case.
frame for
▪ The accused told the court that the police tried to frame him for assault.
▷ pin something on /ˈpɪn something ɒn/ [transitive phrasal verb] informal
to say that someone is guilty of a crime or of doing something wrong, especially when this is not true :
▪ The police pinned the murder on two men who were later proved to be innocent.
▪ You’re not going to pin it on me! I was a hundred miles away at the time.
▷ plant /plɑːntǁplænt/ [transitive verb]
to put something such as illegal drugs or stolen goods into someone’s house or into their pocket, in order to make it seem that they are guilty of a crime :
▪ The police found the stolen cameras in his flat, but he insisted they had been planted.
plant something on somebody
▪ Someone planted the drugs on her before she left the country.
5. to officially prove that someone is guilty
▷ prove somebody guilty /ˌpruːv somebody ˈgɪlti/ [verb phrase]
to prove that someone is guilty of a crime :
▪ Think of all the time they’ve wasted trying to prove me guilty, while the real killer goes free.
innocent until proven guilty
someone cannot be considered guilty until it is officially proved that they are guilty
▪ It is a basic principle of US law, that a person is innocent until proven guilty.
▷ find somebody guilty/convict /ˌfaɪnd somebody ˈgɪlti, kənˈvɪkt/ [verb phrase/transitive verb]
if a court of law finds someone guilty or convicts them, they decide that that person is guilty of a crime :
▪ If the jury finds him guilty he will face a maximum sentence of seven years.
▪ No one has yet been convicted of any of the terrorist attacks.
find somebody guilty of something
▪ The two men were found guilty of the murder and jailed for life.
find somebody guilty of doing something
▪ He was found guilty of supplying drugs.
convict somebody of something
▪ Have you ever been convicted of a criminal offence?
convict somebody of doing something
▪ All four men were convicted of illegally bringing drugs into the country.
6. to feel guilty
▷ feel guilty /ˌfiːl ˈgɪlti/ [verb phrase]
to feel worried and unhappy because you have done something wrong or because you have upset someone :
▪ I felt really guilty after spending all that money.
▪ Are you feeling guilty because you didn’t help her?
feel guilty about
▪ Ed felt guilty about leaving work so early.
▷ be/feel ashamed /ˌbiː, ˌfiːl əˈʃeɪmd/ [verb phrase]
to feel very guilty and disappointed with yourself because you have done something wrong or behaved in an unpleasant or embarrassing way :
▪ She felt thoroughly ashamed when she remembered how drunk she’d been.
be/feel ashamed of
▪ I feel ashamed of what I did.
be/feel ashamed to do something
▪ I’m ashamed to admit it, but I wasn’t really sorry when he died.
▷ feel bad /ˌfiːl ˈbæd/ [verb phrase] especially spoken
to feel very sorry because you have upset someone or done something that you should not have done :
▪ We had a long talk about it afterwards and I know she felt bad.
feel bad that
▪ I should have told Helen I was sorry. I feel really bad that I didn’t.
feel bad about
▪ I feel bad about what I said. Things haven’t been easy for either of us.
feel bad about doing something
▪ I feel bad about not going to Debbie’s party, but I’ve just got too much to do.
▷ blame yourself /ˌbleɪm jɔːʳˈself/ [verb phrase]
to feel that it was your fault that something bad happened :
▪ You mustn’t blame yourself. It was an accident. There was nothing you could have done.
blame yourself for
▪ Assistant coach Rex Hughes blamed himself for the team’s poor performance.
▷ feel responsible /ˌfiːl rɪˈspɒnsə̇b ə lǁ-rɪˈspɑːn-/ [verb phrase]
to feel guilty about something bad that has happened even though you did not cause it, especially when you feel you could have prevented it :
▪ I’m sorry it didn’t work out. I feel responsible.
feel responsible for
▪ For a long time afterwards I felt responsible for his death.
▷ have a guilty conscience /hæv ə ˌgɪlti ˈkɒnʃ ə nsǁ-ˈkɑːn-/ [verb phrase not in progressive]
to feel guilty for a long time and keep thinking about something bad that you have done :
▪ I suppose I did have a guilty conscience for a while, but not any more.
have a guilty conscience about
▪ Why is she being so nice to everyone all of a sudden? She’s obviously got a guilty conscience about something.
▷ be on somebody’s conscience /biː ɒn somebodyˈs ˈkɒnʃ ə nsǁ-ˈkɑːn-/ [verb phrase]
if something bad that you have done is on your conscience, you cannot stop feeling guilty and thinking about it :
▪ Even if you didn’t get caught, the murder would be on your conscience for the rest of your life.
▪ In the end Martin told his wife about his affair - he just couldn’t live with it on his conscience.
7. a guilty feeling
▷ guilt /gɪlt/ [uncountable noun]
the feeling you have when you have done something that you know is wrong :
▪ Guilt can be a very destructive emotion.
feeling of guilt
▪ People often have feelings of guilt after a divorce.
▷ shame /ʃeɪm/ [uncountable noun]
the guilty feeling that you have when you know that you have behaved badly and lost people’s respect :
▪ Voting through cuts in benefits to the poorest people is a matter of shame for all of us.
shame about
▪ Too many women are taught to feel guilt or shame about sex.
shame at
▪ As he left the house, Mungo felt a pang of shame at telling Alice a lie.
almost die of shame
be very ashamed
▪ The next day I remembered how drunk I’d been , and almost died of shame.
bring shame on somebody
▪ Some girls feel that refusing their parents’ choice of husband will bring shame on their family.
▷ remorse /rɪˈmɔːʳs/ [uncountable noun]
a feeling of being very sorry for something bad that you have done, so that you wish you had not done it :
▪ He admitted killing the man but showed no sign of remorse.
remorse for
▪ She was full of remorse for hurting her family.
remorse at
▪ Many men are afflicted with guilt and remorse at leaving their wives.
twinge/pang of remorse
a small feeling of remorse
▪ The woman sounded so nice, McKee felt a twinge of remorse at what he had done to her family.
▷ conscience /ˈkɒnʃ ə nsǁˈkɑːn-/ [uncountable noun]
a set of feelings that stop you from doing something wrong or that make you feel guilty when you have done something wrong :
▪ Her murderer was a psychopath with a total lack of conscience.
twinge/pang of conscience
a sudden feeling of guilt
▪ He was capable of making the most ruthless decisions with no apparent pangs of conscience.
8. to not feel guilty about something
▷ not feel guilty /nɒt fiːl ˈgɪlti/ [verb phrase not usually in progressive]
▪ I made her cry but I don’t feel guilty -- she deserved it.
not feel guilty about
▪ Working mothers shouldn’t feel guilty about wanting a career.
▪ I don’t understand how on earth he can go on lying like that and not feel guilty about it.
▷ a clear conscience /ə ˌklɪəʳ ˈkɒnʃ ə nsǁ-ˈkɑːn-/ [noun phrase]
if you have a clear conscience, you feel that you have not done anything wrong, so that you do not feel guilty about anything you have done :
with a clear conscience
▪ You can face Lionel with a clear conscience -- you’ve done nothing to harm him.
have a clear conscience
▪ Let them say whatever they like. I have a clear conscience.
▷ have no qualms /ˌhæv nəʊ ˈkwɑːmz/ [verb phrase not in progressive]
if you have no qualms about doing something, you have no worries or doubts about whether what you are doing is right, even though other people may think it is wrong :
have no qualms about
▪ She had no qualms about sending her young children to boarding school.
▪ Donald had been stealing stationery from work for years and had no qualms about it at all.
▷ have/feel no compunction /hæv, fiːl ˌnəʊ kəmˈpʌŋkʃ ə n/ [verb phrase not in progressive] formal
to not feel guilty about doing something, even though other people may think it is wrong :
▪ I warn you. These people have no compunction whatsoever and cannot be trusted.
have/feel no compunction about
▪ Eliot felt no compunction about living at the expense of his friends.
9. to stop yourself feeling guilty
▷ salve your conscience /ˌsælv jɔːʳ ˈkɒnʃ ə nsǁ-ˈkɑːn-/ [verb phrase]
to try to stop yourself feeling guilty by doing something good or kind :
▪ She felt guilty and tried to salve her conscience by inviting him out for a meal.
▪ Don’t think you can salve your consciences by giving us money. We won’t forgive you that easily.
▷ clear your conscience /ˌklɪəʳ jɔːʳ ˈkɒnʃ ə nsǁ-ˈkɑːn-/ [verb phrase not in progressive]
to stop yourself feeling guilty by telling someone about something bad that you have done :
▪ She decided to clear her conscience and confess everything.
▪ He knew he might get into trouble if he went to the police but he had to do it to clear his conscience.