guilt

4 definitions • 6 examples

a feeling of worry or unhappiness that you have because you have done something wrong, such as causing harm to another person:

He suffered such feelings of guilt over leaving his children.

a pang of guilt She remembered with a pang of guilt that she hadn't called her mother.

the fact of having done something wrong or committed a crime:

admit your guilt Both suspects admitted their guilt to the police.

establish guilt The prosecution's task in a case is to establish a person's guilt beyond any reasonable doubt.

the fact or state of having done something wrong or committed a crime:

In the US, people accused of a crime are presumed to be innocent until their guilt is proven.

Guilt is also a feeling of anxiety or unhappiness that you have done something immoral or wrong, such as causing harm to another person:

She was tormented by feelings of guilt after putting her mother in a nursing home.