Guilty Meaning
/ˈɡɪl.ti/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjResponsible for a dishonest act.
adjJudged to have committed a crime.
Sentence Examples
You are guilty of murder.
You make me feel so guilty.
Matt and Chrissy both looked equally guilty.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The jury found the defendant ____ of the crime after hearing the evidence.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The jury found the defendant ____ of all charges after hearing several days of compelling evidence.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English gilty, gulty, from Old English gyltiġ (“offending, guilty”); equivalent to guilt + -y.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"The numbers thin out the further we get from London, so I don't feel guilty when I remove my mask momentarily to scoff some of the snacks I'd bought at Marylebone."
— 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:
"Don’t you see that we have been playing a guilty game, and have been overreached […]"
— 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 71, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
"At twilight in the summerv[…] the mice come out. Theyv[…]veat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly—the only lavishment of which he was ever guilty—on the floor."
— 1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
"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."
— 1997, David Brinkley, “June 5, 1983”, in Everyone Is Entitled to My Opinion, →ISBN, page 32:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The jury found the defendant ____ of the crime after hearing the evidence.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The jury found the defendant ____ of all charges after hearing several days of compelling evidence.