Guilty

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /ˈɡɪl.ti/
• Rhymes: -ɪlti

Origin

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

Full definition of guilty

Adjective

1. Responsible for a dishonest act.
   He was guilty of cheating at cards.
2. (legal) 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, The Celebrity Chapter 8, 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.

Synonyms

• culpable
• shildy dialectal

Antonyms

• not guilty
• innocent

Related terms

• guilty as sin

Noun

1. (legal) A plea by a defendant who does not contest a charge.
2. (legal) 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.
• 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.