guilty

English

Etymology

From Middle English gilty, gulty, from Old English gyltiġ (“offending, guilty”), equivalent to guilt +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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• (US) IPA: /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?

4. Blameworthy.

   I have a guilty secret.

Antonyms

• not guilty
• innocent

Related terms

• guilty as sin

Translations

responsible for a dishonest act

• Arabic: مذنب (ar) (mudhanib)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有罪 (cmn) (yǒuzuì)

• Czech: vinen (cs) m, vinný (cs) m
• Finnish: syyllinen (fi)
• French: coupable (fr)
• German: schuldig (de)
• Hungarian: bűnös (hu)

• Italian: colpevole (it)
• Japanese: 有罪の (ja) (ゆうざいの, yūzai-no)
• Luxembourgish: schëlleg (lb)
• Polish: winny (pl) m, winien (pl) m, winna (pl) f
• Portuguese: culpado (pt) m
• Russian: виновный (ru) (vinóvnyj), виноватый (ru) (vinovátyj)
• Spanish: culpable (es)
• Turkish: suçlu (tr)

judged to have committed a crime

• Finnish: syyllinen (fi)
• French: coupable (fr) m and f
• German: schuldig (de), (Switzerland) fehlbar (de)
• Hungarian: bűnös (hu)
• Polish: winny (pl) m, oskarżony (pl) m

• Portuguese: culpado (pt) m
• Russian: виновный (ru) (vinóvnyj)
• Spanish: culpable (es)
• Turkish: suçlu (tr)

having a sense of guilt

• Finnish: syyllinen (fi)
• German: schuldbewusst (de)
• Japanese: 有罪の (ja) (ゆうざいの, yūzai-no), やましい (ja) (yamashii)

• Portuguese: culpado (pt)
• Russian: виноватый (ru) (vinovátyj)

blameworthy

• Finnish: likainen (fi), ruma (fi)

• German: schuldig (de), tadelnswert (de), tadelnswürdig (de)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: חיב (he) (khayav) m

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 0345409523, 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.