guilty conscience
Moral weight carried
A guilty conscience is the persistent inner discomfort that comes from knowing you've done something wrong.
It nags and won't let you forget: His guilty conscience kept him awake for weeks after the accident.
The phrase often appears with verbs of burden—a guilty conscience weighs on you, eats at you, won't give you peace.
- self-reproachBlaming oneself for wrongdoing
- compunctionUneasiness from guilt
- remorseGuilt for wrongdoing
- guilt tripInducing remorse for leverage
- survivor guiltDistress from enduring when others perished
sleepless · sleepless nights · confession · regret · moral conflict · eat away · shame · culpability · self-punishment · silence · sweat · inner turmoil · cognitive dissonance · contrition · pang · tremble · ruefulness · repentance
- mysteryclue, detective, suspect, clues, sleuth
- accountabilityaccountability, responsibility, accountable, take responsibility, answerability
- guiltguilt trip, remorseful, contrition, remorse, culpability
- infidelityadultery, affair, adulteress, cheating, cheater
guilty conscienceclear conscience
Freedom from moral guilt
clean conscience · good conscience · peace of mind · blamelessness · innocence
guilty conscienceclear mind
Untroubled mental state
peace of mind · inner peace · tranquility · serenity · contentment
guilty conscienceshamelessness
Absence of moral embarrassment
guiltlessness · unrepentance · clear conscience · remorselessness · callousness
guilty, conscience, conscientious, guiltily, guilts, guilting, conscientiously, guiltiness