guilt
n. uncountablen. the unhappy feeling you have when you think you have done something wrong. It can also mean the fact that you are legally responsible for a crime.
n. a cognitive or emotional experience that occurs when a person believes or realizes that they have compromised their own standards of conduct. In a legal context, it refers to the state of being responsible for a specific offense.
He felt a lot of guilt after lying to his friend.
The jury spent three days deliberating before they finally reached a verdict of guilt regarding the fraud charges.
Psychologists distinguish between healthy remorse, which encourages social repair, and chronic guilt, which can lead to persistent anxiety and a diminished sense of self-worth.
From Middle English gilt, gult, from Old English gylt (“guilt, sin, offense, crime, fault”), of obscure origin, but possibly related with Old English ġieldan (“to pay, requite, punish”), whence yield. More specifically it could be connected with Proto-West Germanic *guldijā, whence Middle Low German gülde, Middle High German gülte (“debt, fee, financial duty”). However, neither the Old English stem form nor the -t (instead of -d) fit the continental form.
From Middle English gilten, gylten, from Old English gyltan (“to commit sin, be guilty”), from gylt (“guilt, sin, offense, crime, fault”).
From Etymology 1.
Commonly used with the verbs 'feel' or 'admit', and often followed by the preposition 'about' or 'for'.
He was found guilty of the guilt.He was found guilty of the crime.Learners sometimes confuse the noun 'guilt' (the state) with the specific 'crime' (the act) when using the adjective 'guilty'.