Beyond Regret: The Best Guilt Synonym To Use
At times in your life, you might experience feelings of guilt. Sometimes, you may feel that "guilt" is not quite the right word for your feelings, but you don't know how to describe it.
Understanding guilt may help you identify a synonym that fits your feelings and situation. Knowing synonyms for this emotion and fully understanding what it means to feel guilty may help you articulate your feelings to your loved ones or a therapist.
What is guilt?
Guilt is defined as an involuntary emotion rooted in self-examination. When examined as the word of the day, guilt stems from the word “culpa” in Latin, Portuguese, and Spanish – in English, guilt is defined as “the fact of having committed a specified or implied offense or crime.” In Latin languages, “culpa” or guilt has a similar definition: “to be at fault.”
Often, guilt is a feeling that occurs when someone perceives that they have broken their code of conduct or have violated a standard universal moral code or social rule.
However, guilt may be felt when no code has been broken or when there is no direct responsibility. Thus, some could argue that guilt is about perceived responsibility. It can be common for individuals to feel guilt frequently, even when they don't feel it is logical.
Why is guilt important?
Guilt, like any emotion, may be significant. Healthy feelings of guilt may help us make moral and universally acceptable decisions about our behavior. People who frequently feel guilt may be empathetic to others or consider the consequences of their actions. Guilt can have an impact on the self and interpersonal relationships.
Guilt synonym: Shame
However, too much guilt may lead to shame, a similar yet often challenging emotion. While guilt can be the feeling that something you've done is wrong, shame is often defined as the feeling that you might face judgment or ridicule for what you have done or that you are "bad." Shame often leads to feelings of inadequacy, depression, or poor self-image. It may also lead to strained relationships with others.
Guilt can be challenging to measure psychologically because it is often an internal process and emotion. However, researchers have recently found methods to measure guilt. This measurement may be necessary for psychology because it allows a psychologist to determine if an experience of guilt is typical or part of a more significant mental health concern.
Guilt synonyms
At times, saying that you feel "guilty" may not communicate your feelings effectively or accurately. The following list of guilt synonyms could help you better articulate your feelings.
Culpability
Culpability, in short, is blame. When you feel culpable, it may mean that you are blaming yourself for something you feel you are responsible for: something you did or left undone. Either way, culpability is often perceived. Culpability can also be placed on you by someone else.
Disgrace
Feeling disgrace may mean that you are experiencing a state of shame. You may be told that you are a disgrace by others if you have done something that they blame or judge you for. Individuals may feel disgraced because they feel incredibly guilty for something they have done that they perceive as wrong.
Liability
Liability may be defined as answerability and responsibility. You may feel liable when you are responsible for something that has happened. You may not feel actual blame for what you have done, but you may experience liability when you know something was your fault. Liability may be used in a legal sense, as well. For example, you may be liable for legal damages if you damage someone else's property.
Regret
Feeling regret can mean you remain upset over a past action, failure to act, or feeling. Often, feelings of guilt come with regret and vice versa. However, it can be possible to feel regret without feeling intense guilt. At times, if you regret something but do not feel guilt, you may feel guilty for not having feelings of guilt.
Remorse
Remorse can be similar to regret. When you feel remorse, you may have unpleasant feelings about something that has happened or something that you did. Remorse often goes hand in hand with feelings of guilt. You might feel bad about what you did, so you wish you had not done it. You might decide to apologize or try to make up for your actions.
Responsibility
When you feel responsible for something, it could mean that you are to blame for what happened. For someone who experiences feelings of guilt quickly, feeling responsible for a situation may not necessarily be logical. For example, it may not be your fault if your child falls on the pavement and gets a bruise. However, you might feel guilty and take responsibility to watch them more carefully next time.
Contrition
Contrition is another potential word for regret. When you feel contrition, you may feel sorry for past actions. A common use of the word "contrition" is the ritual of committing an act of contrition within the Catholic church—an act that demonstrates remorse for "sinful" thoughts or actions.
Dishonor
Dishonor is another word for strong guilt. When you feel dishonor, you may feel that an action was morally wrong. Dishonor may be felt by people who hold themselves to a stringent code of conduct or ethics and feel that they have broken that code. It may also be used in a religious or cultural setting.
Infamy
Infamy is less about internal feelings of self-image and more about the perception of others. You may feel that you are living "in infamy" if you have done something you think has given you a bad reputation. However, this feeling may be internal and not backed up by social rejection.
Onus
Onus is another word for burden, and guilt may feel like a burden. When a situation arises that you feel negatively about, your emotions may feel like a burden that you must carry. Such burdens can become overwhelming if you ruminate on them. Thus, it can be helpful to discuss feelings of onus with a therapist before they grow.
Penitence
Penitence is another word for severe guilt, meaning that you might be ashamed of what you have done and feel extreme sorrow about it. When you feel penitent, you may wish to do something to make up for the offending actions or words. The sorrow accompanying penitence could lead to depression or feelings of low self-worth if left unaddressed.
Self-condemnation
Self-condemnation may be a challenging guilt synonym. When you feel self-condemnation, you may pass severe judgment on yourself because of what you did (or failed to do). Self-condemnation means that you not only feel guilty but also criticize yourself to the point that you cannot move past your guilt and shame.
Self-reproach
Self-reproach is another guilt synonym, like self-condemnation. With self-reproach comes feelings of guilt, shame, low self-worth, blame, and sorrow.
When you experience feelings of self-reproach, you may feel stuck focusing on the offending actions or words. You may be overwhelmed with these feelings and struggle to move on from them.
Peccability
Peccability is an often-unknown guilt synonym. The word is the opposite of "impeccability" (meaning immaculateness or blamelessness). From a religious perspective, peccability can also be used to describe "sin." You may feel extreme shame over your words or actions when you feel peccable. You might even feel you have "sinned" against your religion or a universal moral code.
Getting help with guilt and self-reproach
Mild feelings of guilt are often typical and temporary. However, if you are feeling such intense guilt or shame that you are fixating on it, unable to move on, or experiencing sorrow that interferes with your daily life, you may want to seek out support from a mental health professional.
Studies have shown that people who experience shame are at greater risk of developing anxiety and depression. A trained therapist can discuss your feelings with you and help you resolve feelings of intense guilt.
Benefits of online therapy
People who experience extreme guilt and shame often withdraw from others. In some cases, they may not want to leave their house. In this case, online therapy may be an option. Online therapy with a licensed professional has been shown to help reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression.
If you're ready to reach out for emotional support, consider signing up for a platform like BetterHelp for individuals or Regain for couples. Both platforms offer a match-based system to find you support from a therapist who may specialize in your concerns.
Takeaway
If you are struggling with feelings of guilt or shame, help is available. With a mental health professional's support, you may learn to manage these feelings. Consider reaching out to a counselor to get started.
What is the best synonym for guilt?
Guilt is a self-conscious feeling (emotion) that’s characterized by concern or distress about an action or thought that is perceived as wrong. Some of the closest synonyms for guilt include:
- Remorse: A strong sense of regret for a perceived wrongdoing.
- Regret: Believing you should have done something differently in the past.
- Shame: A negative self-evaluation about oneself. Guilt indicates that you believe you did something wrong, whereas shame indicates that you believe you are wrong.
How do you say I am feeling guilty?
It can be hard to say you’re feeling guilty. If you’re experiencing natural guilt, or guilt that develops after you’ve legitimately done something wrong, you can take steps toward owning guilt, rather than avoiding it. For example, if you’ve broken promises you made to a friend, you can acknowledge your feelings of guilt with a simple phrase like, “I feel bad because I know I let you down.” After telling someone that you feel guilt ridden, you may think you can immediately move on. However, managing expectations and giving them space can be an important part of making amends.
Guilt isn’t always about one’s individual actions or wrongdoings. For example, guilt can build from cultural norms that promote harmful behavior from society. Dean Obeidallah wrote about allegations of sexual assault against Bill Cosby for the Daily Beast. In situations like these, someone may say they’re feeling guilty by association.
What is a synonym for guilty person?
The synonym for a guilty person depends on the circumstances. For example, as defined by Puritans, puritanical guilty feelings are a recognition of sin. They might call a guilty person a sinful person.
In a legal environment, a guilty person may be considered a convict, criminal, felon, or lawbreaker. Legal agencies decide when someone committed a crime once they’ve considered positive proof of guilt, which excludes evidence such false confessions.
What is the word for feeling bad or ashamed of yourself?
When you’re feeling guilty, you also feel bad for yourself. Self-pity is a term that characterizes rumination and sorrow for your own suffering. You can work to reframe your own feelings of self-pity by recognizing how you feel, practicing gratitude journaling, giving back to others, and centering self-compassion. A licensed therapist can help you if you’re finding it difficult to manage these feelings on your own.
What is a heavy guilt synonym?
Some people may use the phrase “heavy with guilt” to describe the sensation of weight or tension on their conscience. Someone who is feeling heavy with guilt may be experiencing a guilt complex, or a chronic sense that they’re done something wrong. A guilt complex can arise from real or imagined wrongdoings. While the former may be termed “natural guilt,” the latter is guilt that may be “maladaptive guilt,” “survivor guilt,” or “inequality guilt.”
Survivor’s guilt and maladaptive guilt
- Survivor’s guilt is an example of guilt that can develop after surviving an incident when others perished. It may be a part of your own grief process, especially if a death was unexpected or traumatic. For example, you may experience survivor’s guilt if your fellow soldier was in the wrong place when an IED explodes, while you survive unscathed.
- Maladaptive guilt is guilt that people feel in response to something outside of their control. For example, some agency employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) described feeling anguish and guilt about the COVID-19 death toll despite their best efforts.
Guilt can feel uncomfortable or painful, but there are many strategies that can help you decrease guilt. For example, cognitive behavioral therapy can help people understand how dysfunctional thoughts contribute to guilt, and how to address them.
Are guilt and regret the same thing?
Though guilt and regret are similar and often co-occur, they are not the same thing:
- Guilt usually occurs when your thoughts, feelings, or behaviors contradict your moral code, values, or expectations for yourself, leading to distress.
- Regret, on the other hand, occurs when an outcome is undesired, and you wish you could have changed your behavior in hindsight to achieve a better outcome.
How do you say I felt bad?
If you felt bad for something you did that you shouldn’t have, you might say you felt:
- Ashamed
- Sorry
- Remorseful
- Guilty
- Rueful
If someone else hurts your feelings, you can tell them how you are feeling by using “I” statements and avoiding accusatory language. For example, you could say, “I felt bad when you said my opinion was wrong. Going forward, I would appreciate it if we could have open discussions about our opinions without deciding who’s right and wrong.”
What is the adjective of guilt?
The adjective of guilt is “guilty.” You may say that someone has a guilty conscience, is guilty of a crime, or was found guilty by a jury.
What is the word for feeling regret for bad behavior?
Remorse is an emotion characterized by deep regret for past actions that are perceived as wrong, harmful, or shameful. While regret does not necessarily imply feeling sorry for the impact that actions have on others, remorse does. It’s often a distressing and painful emotion that may be accompanied by guilt, sadness, and/or shame.
What shows that someone is guilty?
According to Herbert Morris, a legal theorist, guilt is rooted in a fear of separation from the moral community, regardless of the circumstances. This means that guilt is not an innate human nature, rather feeling guilty is a product of cultural conditioning.
With this understanding, guilt is utilized to keep people from engaging in behaviors that go against cultural norms or morals. It’s not an uncommon occurrence for people who feel guilty but are unwilling to accept responsibility to exhibit the following signs:
- Providing justification for wrongdoings or blaming others
- Avoiding eye contact or direct questioning
- Providing incorrect information
- Low self-esteem
- Isolation or avoidance
- Emotional reactivity
What are some famous quotes about guilt?
The following are quotes about guilt:
- “Despite his own grief, he is sorry for the young man; nor is he convinced in his shrewd bourgeois mind of the latter's guilt.” –Uncanny Tales
- “If ever a pretty woman's smile was devilish, Lucy Warrender's was, as she insisted on this partnership in her guilt.” – The Pit Town Coronet: A Family Mystery
- “Grief is not as heavy as guilt, but it takes more away from you.” –Insurgent
- “Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.” –Brave New World
What are other synonyms of guilt aside from remorse, regret, and shame?
Can guilty feelings be alleviated through contrition, penitence, and compunction?
What is another guilt synonym aside from self-reproach?
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