guilt trip

See also: guilt-trip

English

Etymology

guilt +‎ trip. First use appears c. 1972 in the novel Any Minute I Can Split by Judith Rossner.

Noun

guilt trip (plural guilt trips)

1. (idiomatic) A feeling of shame or embarrassment, especially if self-indulgent, unwarranted, exaggerated or felt over a significant period of time.

   The prosperous business owner whose infant daughter had a serious genetic disease decided to find a foundation whose annual report was less based on guilt trips. She appreciated that another foundation's annual report had much more emphasis on what they were able to accomplish with the money her family donated.

2. (idiomatic) An act that produces such a feeling.

   The fund raisers were criticized for too much of their appeal to donors being a guilt trip about how there would be more starving feral kittens unless donors significantly increased their donations.

   He still resented his grandmother laying a guilt trip on him about starving children in China when he didn't finish her home-grown cabbage that he detested.

Further reading

• “guilt trip”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “guilt trip, n, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “guilt trip”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “guilt trip”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “guilt trip” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.