guilt

Everyday

1. The bad, uncomfortable feeling you have when you know you have done something wrong. tree →
2. The fact of having done something wrong or broken a law (the court proved his guilt). tree →

In the lessons

In feelings lessons, guilt is a normal emotion that tells us to put things right: say sorry, fix a mistake. Too much guilt about things that were not your fault is not helpful — talk to someone. In stories guilt changes characters (they confess or make amends). In law and mystery stories, the detective proves someone's guilt. Phrases: feel guilt, a sense of guilt, guilty (adjective), guilt trip, guilty conscience.

Examples

• He felt guilt after he broke his sister's toy. tree →
• Saying sorry helped her guilt go away. tree →
• The detective found proof of the thief's guilt. tree →
• Don't carry guilt for something that wasn't your fault. tree →
• I felt guilty because I forgot her birthday. tree →
• The dog's guilty face showed it had eaten the cake. tree →

Note

Homophone trap: «guilt» (feeling of doing wrong) and «gilt» (thin gold covering) sound the same. Adjective: guilty (I feel guilty). Opposite: innocence, innocent. Silent «u»: guilt.

In Jewish tradition

In the Prophets and Writings guilt is also what a person or people must bear for sin. Hosea says a divided heart will bear its guilt, Ezekiel says priests eat the guilt-offering, and Ezra says marrying foreign women increased Israel's guilt.

Interpretation. The tradition says a person must confess, make good any loss, and then bring the offering. It teaches that wronging God or a neighbour needs real repair as well as feeling sorry. The priests' share of the guilt-offering is read as part of how the Temple service helped to bring forgiveness.

Examples

• It is a guilt-offering — he is certainly guilty before the LORD. (Torah LEV.5.19, JPS 1917) tree →
• And this is the law of the guilt-offering: it is most holy. (Torah LEV.7.1, JPS 1917) tree →
• And the priest shall make them smoke upon the altar for an offering made by fire unto the LORD; it is a guilt-offering. (Torah LEV.7.5, JPS 1917) tree →
• Their heart is divided; now shall they bear their guilt; He will break down their altars, He will spoil their pillars. (Prophets HOS.10.2, JPS 1917) tree →
• The meal-offering, and the sin-offering, and the guilt-offering, they, even they, shall eat; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. (Prophets EZK.44.29, JPS 1917) tree →
• And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them: 'Ye have broken faith, and have married foreign women, to increase the guilt of Israel. (Writings EZR.10.10, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Homophone trap: «guilt» (feeling of doing wrong) and «gilt» (thin gold covering) sound the same. Adjective: guilty (I feel guilty). Opposite: innocence, innocent. Silent «u»: guilt.