Adjacent Words

Guilty definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

GUILT'Y, a. gilt'y. Criminal; having knowingly committed a crime or offense, or having violated a law by an overt act or by neglect,and by that act or neglect, being liable to punishment; not innocent. It may be followed by of; as, to be guilty of theft or arson.
Nor he, nor you, were guilty of the strife.
1. Wicked; corrupt; sinful; as a guilty world.
2. Conscious.
In Scripture, to be guilty of death, is to have committed a crime which deserves death. Matthew 26.
To be guilty of the body and blood of Christ, is to be chargeable with the crime of crucifying Christ afresh, and offering indignity to his person and righteousness, represented by the symbols of the Lord's supper. 1 Corinthians 11.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: responsible for or chargeable with a reprehensible act; "guilty of murder"; "the guilty person"; "secret guilty deeds" [ant: clean-handed, guiltless, innocent]
2: showing a sense of guilt; "a guilty look"; "the hangdog and shamefaced air of the retreating enemy"- Eric Linklater [syn: guilty, hangdog, shamefaced, shamed]

Merriam Webster's

adjective (guiltier; -est) Date: before 12th century 1. justly chargeable with or responsible for a usually grave breach of conduct or a crime 2. obsolete justly liable to or deserving of a penalty 3. a. suggesting or involving guilt <guilty looks> b. aware of or suffering from guilt <guilty consciences> Synonyms: see blameworthy • guiltily adverb • guiltiness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. (guiltier, guiltiest) 1 culpable of or responsible for a wrong. 2 conscious of or affected by guilt (a guilty conscience; a guilty look). 3 concerning guilt (a guilty secret). 4 a (often foll. by of) having committed a (specified) offence. b Law adjudged to have committed a specified offence, esp. by a verdict in a trial. Derivatives: guiltily adv. guiltiness n. Etymology: OE gyltig (as GUILT, -Y(1))

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Guilty Guilt"y, a. [Compar. Gultier; superl. Guiltiest.] [AS. gyltig liable. See Guilt.] 1. Having incurred guilt; criminal; morally delinquent; wicked; chargeable with, or responsible for, something censurable; justly exposed to penalty; -- used with of, and usually followed by the crime, sometimes by the punishment. They answered and said, He is guilty of death. --Matt. xxvi. 66. Nor he, nor you, were guilty of the strife. --Dryden. 2. Evincing or indicating guilt; involving guilt; as, a guilty look; a guilty act; a guilty feeling. 3. Conscious; cognizant. [Obs.] --B. Jonson. 4. Condemned to payment. [Obs. & R.] --Dryden.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(guiltier, guiltiest) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If you feel guilty, you feel unhappy because you think that you have done something wrong or have failed to do something which you should have done. I feel so guilty, leaving all this to you... When she saw me she looked guilty. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, oft ADJ about n • guiltily He glanced guiltily over his shoulder. ADV: ADV with v 2. Guilty is used of an action or fact that you feel guilty about. Many may be keeping it a guilty secret... I leave with a guilty sense of relief. guilty conscience: see conscience ADJ: ADJ n 3. If someone is guilty of a crime or offence, they have committed that crime or offence. They were found guilty of murder... He pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm. ADJ: oft ADJ of n/-ing 4. If someone is guilty of doing something wrong, they have done that thing. He claimed Mr Brooke had been guilty of a 'gross error of judgment'... They will consider whether or not he has been guilty of serious professional misconduct. ADJ: oft ADJ of n/-ing

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

gil'-ti: In addition to the general discussion under GUILT (which see), several New Testament passages demand special notice because the word "guilty" is not used in the principal sense of blameworthy, but with one of the two lesser meanings noted above which go to make up the complete idea. In 3 of these passages the King James Version renders "guilty" and the Revised Version (British and American) gives another rendering. In Mt 26:66 the King James Version, Jesus' foes declare he is "guilty of death" (enochos, "liable to"). Here "guilty" simply means the one who is legally held, and the reference is not to the blame but to the consequence. This is a true use of the word in the lower and legal sense. It does not correspond with our higher usage, and so we have it in the Revised Version (British and American) "worthy of death." So in Ro 3:19, "guilty" is changed to "under the judgment," and in Mt 23:18, to "debtor."

In Jas 2:10 and 1Co 11:27, the word "guilty" is also used in the lesser or more primitive sense, not primarily as involving blame but as involving the sinner's authorship or responsibility. This is the first element suggested in the definition of guilt given above, just as the preceding passages illustrate the third element. The man who stumbles in one point is "guilty" of the whole law. James does not refer here to the degree of blameworthiness. "Guilty of" means transgressor of, and he has transgressed the whole because the law is one. So in 1Co 11:27, those "guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord" are those who have transgressed in the matter of the body and the blood of the Lord.

Harris Franklin Rall

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Criminal, culpable, wicked, wrong. 2. Found in guilt, having violated law, actually transgressing, actually offending.

Moby Thesaurus

accountable, amiss, answerable, apologetic, arraignable, ashamed, at fault, blamable, blameful, blameworthy, censurable, conscience-stricken, contrite, criminal, culpable, delinquent, embarrassed, faulty, impeachable, impeached, implicated, incriminated, inculpated, indictable, indicted, involved, offending, peccant, penitent, red-faced, regretful, remorseful, repentant, reprehensible, reproachable, reprovable, responsible, rueful, sheepish, sinful, sorrowful, sorry, to blame, unholy, wrong