guilty

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English gilty, gulty, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English gyltiġ (“offending, guilty”), equivalent to guilt +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɪl.ti/, [ˈɡɪl.ti]
• Rhymes: -ɪlti

Adjective

guilty (comparative guiltier, superlative guiltiest)

1. Responsible for a dishonest act.

   He was guilty of cheating at cards.

2. (law) Judged to have committed a crime.

   The guilty man was led away.

3. Having a sense of guilt.

   Do you have a guilty conscience?

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:

     I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.

4. Blameworthy.

   I have a guilty secret.

   • Template:RQ:WBsnt IvryGt

     At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly—the only lavishment of which he was ever guilty—on the floor.

Synonyms

• culpable
• shildy (dialectal)

Antonyms

• not guilty
• innocent

Related terms

• guilty as sin

Translations

responsible for a dishonest act

• Amharic: ጥፋተኛ (ṭəfatäña)
• Arabic: مُذْنِب (ar) (muḏnib), مُذْنِبَة f (muḏniba)
• Armenian: մեղավոր (hy) (meġavor)
• Belarusian: вінава́ты (vinaváty), ві́нны (vínny)
• Bulgarian: вино́вен (bg) (vinóven)
• Catalan: culpable (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有罪 (zh) (yǒuzuì)

• Czech: vinen (cs) m, vinný (cs) m
• Danish: skyldig (da)
• Dutch: schuldig (nl)
• Esperanto: kulpa
• Finnish: syyllinen (fi)
• French: coupable (fr)
• German: schuldig (de)
• Greek: ένοχος (el) (énochos)

  Ancient: ἔνοχος (énokhos)

• Hebrew: אָשֵׁם (he) (ashém)
• Hindi: दोषी (hi) (doṣī)
• Hungarian: bűnös (hu)
• Icelandic: sekur (is)
• Irish: ciontach
• Italian: colpevole (it)
• Japanese: 有罪の (ja) (ゆうざいの, yūzai no)
• Korean: 유죄의 (ko) (yujoe'ui)
• Latin: sons, nocens (la), culpabilis
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: vainīgs
• Luxembourgish: schëlleg
• Macedonian: виновен (vinoven)
• Maori: whaihara
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skyldig

• Old English: scyldig
• Persian: گناهکار (fa) (gonâhkâr)
• Polish: winny (pl) m, winien (pl) m, winna f
• Portuguese: culpado (pt) m
• Romanian: vinovat (ro)
• Russian: вино́вный (ru) (vinóvnyj), винова́тый (ru) (vinovátyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: крив

  Roman: kriv (sh)

• Slovak: vínny
• Slovene: kriv (sl)
• Spanish: culpable (es)
• Swedish: skyldig (sv)
• Turkish: suçlu (tr)
• Ukrainian: винува́тий (vynuvátyj), ви́нний (výnnyj)
• Urdu: مجرم (mujrim)
• Vietnamese: có tội, phạm tội (vi), tội lỗi (vi)
• Walloon: coupåbe (wa) m or f
• Yiddish: שולדיק (shuldik)

judged to have committed a crime

• Armenian: մեղավոր (hy) (meġavor), հանցավոր (hy) (hancʻavor)
• Bulgarian: вино́вен (bg) (vinóven)
• Catalan: culpable (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有罪 (zh) (yǒuzuì)

• Danish: skyldig (da)
• Dutch: schuldig (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: syyllinen (fi)
• French: coupable (fr) m or f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: schuldig (de), (Switzerland) fehlbar (de)
• Greek: ένοχος (el) (énochos)

  Ancient: ἔνοχος (énokhos)

• Hebrew: אָשֵׁם (he) (ashém)
• Hungarian: bűnös (hu)
• Irish: ciontach
• Italian: colpevole (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: sons, nocens (la)
• Latvian: vainīgs, vaininieks m, vaininiece f
• Malay: bersalah
• Maori: whaihara
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Old English: scyldig
• Persian: گناهکار (fa) (gonâhkâr)
• Polish: winny (pl) m, oskarżony (pl) m
• Portuguese: culpado (pt) m
• Romanian: vinovat (ro)
• Russian: вино́вный (ru) (vinóvnyj)
• Spanish: culpable (es)
• Swedish: skyldig (sv)
• Thai: มีความผิด
• Turkish: suçlu (tr)
• Vietnamese: có tội (vi), phạm tội (vi), tội lỗi (vi)
• Walloon: coupåbe (wa) m or f

having a sense of guilt

• Bulgarian: гузен (bg) (guzen)
• Catalan: culpable (ca)
• Finnish: syyllinen (fi)
• German: schuldbewusst (de)
• Hebrew: אָשֵׁם (he) (ashém)
• Irish: ciontach
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 有罪の (ja) (ゆうざいの, yūzai no), 疚しい (ja) (やましい, yamashii)
• Latvian: vainīgs
• Portuguese: culpado (pt)
• Russian: винова́тый (ru) (vinovátyj)
• Swedish: skamsen (sv)

blameworthy

• Catalan: reprovable
• Finnish: likainen (fi), ruma (fi)
• German: schuldig (de), tadelnswert, tadelnswürdig
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hebrew: חַיָּב (he) m (khayav)
• Latvian: vainīgs, atbildīgs

Noun

guilty (plural guilties)

1. (law) A plea by a defendant who does not contest a charge.
2. (law) A verdict of a judge or jury on a defendant judged to have committed a crime.
3. One who is declared guilty of a crime.
   • 1997, David Brinkley, “June 5, 1983”, in Everyone Is Entitled to My Opinion‎^[1], →ISBN, page 32:

     The not guilties walked out and went to work if they had jobs; the guilties were hauled away to spend maybe thirty days on the county farm growing cabbage.