guilt.

1. Distress from believing that one has done something wrong or failed an obligation.

2. The fact or legal finding that someone committed an offense.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• feel guilt
• survivor guilt

On the page

She felt guilt for having ignored the warning.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychology / human behavior. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common.