What does "guilt trip" mean?

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

Guilt trip

Common synonyms include: guilt, coerce, coercion, emotional burden, emotional manipulation, guilt feelings.

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A feeling of shame or embarrassment, especially if self-indulgent, unwarranted, exaggerated or felt over a significant period of time. idiomatic
"to go on a guilt trip"
2
remorse caused by feeling responsible for some offense wordnet
3
An act that produces such a feeling. idiomatic
"I must admit that I personally dislike this form of fundraising and consider it to be one of the worst ways to raise awareness for any charity, the only one worse than this is the ‘knock on the door’ at teatime with the same ‘guilt trip’ message hammered home by the young person in the charity shirt."

Verb

1
Alternative form of guilt-trip. alt-of, alternative
"It succeeded in portraying environmentalists as guilt tripping, callous and vindictive – exactly the colours in which climate change deniers had been painting them for years."

"to send someone on a guilt trip"

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