Have a guilty conscience Meaning and Usage

Meaning 1：feel guilty (Have a guilty conscience)

Have a guilty conscience 🔊

/hæv ə ˈɡɪlti ˈkɑːnʃəns/

verb phrase

To feel bad inside because you know you have done something wrong.

Person with a guilty conscience feeling remorse at night

feel guilty 🔊

➕

/fiːl ˈɡɪlti/

verb phrase

To experience a sense of remorse or self-reproach due to awareness of having done something wrong.

📁 Category：Physical & Mental Health 🔖 Level：Intermediate

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

From 'guilt' (Old English 'gylt', sin) and 'conscience' (Latin 'conscientia', inner knowledge). Together: awareness of wrongdoing.

💡 Mnemonic

Picture a judge's gavel hitting a glowing 'GUILT' sign inside your chest each time you do wrong.

📖 Example

After lying to his parents about his test score, Tom couldn't sleep all night because he had a guilty conscience. 🔊 After lying to his parents about his test score, Tom couldn't sleep all night because he had a guilty conscience.

🔗 Collocations

have a guilty conscience about – to feel guilty about something

burdened by a guilty conscience – oppressed by feelings of guilt

ease one's guilty conscience – to relieve guilt, often by confessing

🔄 Synonyms

remorseful (adj.) – feeling deep regret for a wrong committed

contrite (adj.) – feeling or showing sorrow for wrongdoing

guilt-ridden (adj.) – dominated by a constant feeling of guilt

🚫 Antonyms

clear conscience (noun phrase) – a feeling of moral innocence

innocent (adj.) – not guilty of a crime or wrongdoing

🌱 Derivatives

guilt (n.) – the fact of having committed a wrongdoing

conscience (n.) – inner sense of right and wrong

📖 Cultural Story

The concept appears in early Christian writings to describe internal moral conflict. In modern psychology, it's linked to cognitive dissonance and the discomfort of violating personal ethics.