Guilty

//ˈɡɪl.ti// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A plea by a defendant who does not contest a charge.
  2. 2
    A verdict of a judge or jury on a defendant judged to have committed a crime.
  3. 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."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Responsible for a dishonest act.

    "He was guilty of cheating at cards."

  2. 2
    Judged to have committed a crime.

    "The guilty man was led away."

  3. 3
    Having a sense of guilt.

    "Do you have a guilty conscience?"

  4. 4
    Blameworthy.

    "I have a guilty secret."

Adjective
  1. 1
    showing a sense of guilt wordnet
  2. 2
    responsible for or chargeable with a reprehensible act wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
at faultblameworthycriminalculpabledelinquentculpable

Example

More examples

"Prosecutors in court have to substantiate their claims in order to prove a suspect is guilty."

Etymology

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

Related phrases

guilty as a cat in a goldfish bowlguilty as chargedguilty as singuilty conscienceguilty pleasureguilty as sin

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.