moral guilt
Conscience bearing blame
Moral guilt is the state of having done something ethically wrong, as distinguished from legal guilt.
A person may be morally guilty without breaking any law, or legally guilty without moral culpability.
The term emphasizes internal responsibility and ethical judgment rather than formal verdict: He was acquitted, but many felt his moral guilt was clear.
- shamePainful awareness of failure
- remorseGuilt for wrongdoing
- conscienceInternal moral sense
- crisis of conscienceEthical self-doubt episode
- regretSorrow over past actions
sin · original sin · blame · blood on hands · confession · atonement · wrongdoing · redemption · burden · haunted · repentance · culpability · transgression · punishment · forgiveness · self-reproach · torment · sleepless nights
- Blameblame, fault, culprit, accusation, finger-pointing
- guiltremorseful, contrition, remorse, culpability, mea culpa
- moral emotionsshame, remorse, conscience, compunction, contrition
- punishmentpunishment, prison, jail, execution, hanging
- Sentencing Factorsmitigating factors, aggravating factors, extenuating circumstances, criminal history, prior record
- religious lawreligious law, canon law, sharia, Islamic law, sacred law
moral guiltblamelessness
Freedom from culpability
guiltlessness · innocence · moral virtue · moral purity · exoneration
moral guiltpeace of mind
State without anxiety
inner peace · self-righteousness · self-forgiveness · serenity · clear conscience
moral guiltlegal liability
Responsibility under the law
civil liability · legal responsibility · criminal responsibility · criminal liability
moral, morals, morally, morality, immoral, immorally, immorality, amoral, amorally