guilty

Etymology

From Middle English gilty, gulty, from Old English gyltiġ (“offending, guilty”); equivalent to guilt + -y.

adj

1. Responsible for a dishonest act.
   He was guilty of cheating at cards.
2. (law) Judged to have committed a crime.
   The guilty man was led away.
3. Having a sense of guilt.
   Do you have a guilty conscience?
   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. December 2 2020, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68
4. Blameworthy.
   I have a guilty secret.

noun

1. (law) A plea by a defendant who does not contest a charge.
2. (law) A verdict of a judge or jury on a defendant judged to have committed a crime.
3. One who is declared guilty of a crime.
   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, page 32