I. guilt 1 /ɡɪlt/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ guilt , guiltiness; adjective : ↑ guilty , ↑ guilt-ridden ; adverb : ↑ guiltily ]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: gylt ]
1 . a strong feeling of shame and sadness because you know that you have done something wrong:
He used to buy them expensive presents, out of guilt.
guilt about/at/over
Don’t you have any feelings of guilt about leaving David?
He felt an enormous sense of guilt when he thought about how he’d treated her.
I was racked with guilt at my part in making her this unhappy.
Sometimes I felt little pangs of guilt.
2 . the fact that you have broken an official law or moral rule OPP innocence :
He did not deny his guilt.
3 . responsibility and blame for something bad that has happened
guilt for
Guilt for poorly behaved children usually lies with the parents.
4 . be on a guilt trip informal to have a feeling of guilt about something when it is unreasonable
5 . lay a guilt trip on somebody American English informal to make someone feel bad about something:
I wish my parents would stop laying a guilt trip on me for not going to college.
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COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ have guilt
I had a lot of guilt about what had happened.
▪ feel guilt
She didn’t feel any guilt; she had done nothing wrong.
▪ be consumed with/racked with/overwhelmed by guilt (=feel very guilty)
Later he was horrified that he had hit her, and was racked by guilt.
▪ assuage sb’s guilt formal (=make someone feel less guilty)
She died before I got there, and there was nothing I could do to assuage my guilt and regret.
■ phrases
▪ a feeling/sense of guilt ( also guilt feelings )
I had a permanent feeling of guilt that I didn't see Mum and Dad as often as I should.
▪ a pang/twinge/stab of guilt
Richard felt a pang of guilt, knowing that he had forgotten her birthday.
▪ a burden of guilt (=a strong feeling of guilt)
Many children feel a burden of guilt when their parents divorce, believing that they have caused the separation.
■ guilt + NOUN
▪ a guilt complex (=when you cannot stop feeling guilty, although it is unnecessary)
Some of the survivors developed a guilt complex. Why had they lived when others had died?
■ adjectives
▪ collective guilt (=guilt shared by each member of a group or society)
Should we feel some kind of collective guilt for what happened in the past?
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THESAURUS
▪ guilt the feeling you have when you have done something you know is wrong:
Divorce often leaves people with feelings of guilt.
▪ shame the feeling of being guilty or embarrassed that you have after doing something that is wrong, when you feel you have lost people’s respect:
I was too scared to help him, and I was filled with shame.
▪ regret a feeling of sadness about something, especially because you wish it had not happened:
Kate watched her go with a pang of regret.
▪ remorse a strong feeling of being sorry for doing something very bad:
a murderer who showed no remorse
▪ contrition formal a feeling of being guilty and sorry for something wrong that you have done:
The company CEO expressed contrition for the errors that led to the crash.
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He sounded full of contrition.
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They wanted to perform some kind of act of contrition (=do something that shows you feel sorry for something ) .
▪ penitence formal a feeling of being sorry for something that you have done wrong, when you do not intend to do it again:
He expressed genuine penitence at the harm he had done her.
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a period of reflection and penitence
▪ conscience the part of your mind that tells you whether what you are doing is morally right or wrong:
My conscience has been troubling me ever since.
II. guilt 2 BrE AmE verb
guilt somebody into something phrasal verb American English informal
to make someone feel guilty, so they will do what you want
guilt somebody into doing something
Her parents guilted her into not going to the concert.