What's the difference between guilt and shame?

Guilt


Definition:

  • (v. t.) The criminality and consequent exposure to punishment resulting from willful disobedience of law, or from morally wrong action; the state of one who has broken a moral or political law; crime; criminality; offense against right.
  • (v. t.) Exposure to any legal penalty or forfeiture.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The tinsel coiled around a jug of squash and bauble in the strip lighting made a golf-ball size knot of guilt burn in my throat.
  • (2) Godiya Usman, an 18-year-old finalist who jumped off the back of the truck, said she feels trapped by survivor's guilt.
  • (3) Kate Connolly , Ian Traynor and Siobhán Dowling cover the "guilt and resentment" Germany's savers feel over pressure to do more to end the euro crisis.
  • (4) The irony of this type of self-manipulation is that ultimately the child, or adult, finds himself again burdened by impotence, though it is the impotence of guilt rather than that of shame.
  • (5) Mother's guilt Fifty years on, the scars have not properly healed for Bach, now 68.
  • (6) Not only did it make every grocery-store run a guilt trip; it made me feel selfish for caring more about birds in the present than about people in the future.
  • (7) But Ruby Tweedie, another local resident, said: "There have been so many doubts about his guilt that it's only fair that the man, who has only a few months to live, should be shown mercy."
  • (8) Still others may feel pain, anger, and guilt for years after the death.
  • (9) A request for a pardon would require an admission of guilt, which the women have said they will not give.
  • (10) The pseudo-memories coupled with influence from authority figures convinced him of his guilt for 6 months.
  • (11) Brighter children had a higher ideal self-image, greater self-image disparity, and marginally more guilt than children of average intellectual abilities.
  • (12) To a generation of young Germans, raised under the crushing, introspective guilt of postwar Germany , the sight of such facile antics was simply incomprehensible.
  • (13) Perceived high amounts of calories or fat triggered stronger feelings of guilt and danger for restrained control subjects and patients (especially bulimic patients) as compared with unrestrained control subjects.
  • (14) Libya agreed to pay billions of dollars in compensation to families of the victims because of demands from the UN, not because it admitted guilt over the worst act of terrorism in British history.
  • (15) This study was designed to determine whether normal control subjects (n = 17) and depressed outpatients (n = 72) differed with respect to the extent and conditions under which they reported dysfunctional guilt.
  • (16) Feelings of guilt were related significantly to disaffected patterns such as dogmatism (p less than .001), hostility (p less than .001), and aggression (p less than .05), which suggests a turning inward of feelings of anger and disappointment in addition to their outward expression.
  • (17) Stories poured in, full of anger, guilt, powerlessness and loss, ones of encouragement, optimism and advice, and they are still coming.
  • (18) I’m worried this could create a culture of fear and guilt.
  • (19) ; psychotherapy for anxiety, depression, guilt, anger, hostility, frustration, isolation, and a diminished sense of self-esteem; visualization for health improvement; and, dealing with death anxiety and other related issues.
  • (20) Symptoms of guilt, loss of concentration and memory were significantly more in urban patients whereas gastrointestinal somatic symptoms were significantly higher in rural subjects.

Shame


Definition:

  • (n.) A painful sensation excited by a consciousness of guilt or impropriety, or of having done something which injures reputation, or of the exposure of that which nature or modesty prompts us to conceal.
  • (n.) Reproach incurred or suffered; dishonor; ignominy; derision; contempt.
  • (n.) The cause or reason of shame; that which brings reproach, and degrades a person in the estimation of others; disgrace.
  • (n.) The parts which modesty requires to be covered; the private parts.
  • (v. t.) To make ashamed; to excite in (a person) a comsciousness of guilt or impropriety, or of conduct derogatory to reputation; to put to shame.
  • (v. t.) To cover with reproach or ignominy; to dishonor; to disgrace.
  • (v. t.) To mock at; to deride.
  • (n.) To be ashamed; to feel shame.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Stray bottles were thrown over the barriers towards officers to cheers and chants of: “Shame on you, we’re human too.” The Met deployed what it described as a “significant policing operation”, including drafting in thousands of extra officers to tackle expected unrest, after previous events ended in arrests and clashes with police across the centre of the capital.
  • (2) The Bible treats suicide in a factual way and not as wrong or shameful.
  • (3) However, there's been very little mention of what happened in Manchester today – shame on you.
  • (4) There can’t be something, someone that could fix this and chooses not to.” Years of agnosticism and an open attitude to religious beliefs thrust under the bus, acknowledging the shame that comes from sitting down with those the world forgot.
  • (5) Yogi Breisner, performance manager for the British eventing team, said: "It is a real shame that it has been called off, especially in an Olympic year when a lot of the riders and horses would have been on show.
  • (6) The irony of this type of self-manipulation is that ultimately the child, or adult, finds himself again burdened by impotence, though it is the impotence of guilt rather than that of shame.
  • (7) "The whole thing was stupid, Donald called him at once to discuss it, he had such a go at him, I mean, fuck, it's a shame we didn't record it, he fucked him up good, had such a proper fucking go at him."
  • (8) Significant differences (p less than 0.05-p less than 0.01) were found, suggesting that the Eastern mothers strongly expressed their shame, whereas the Western mothers 'felt ashamed' to express it at all.
  • (9) For now, the overriding feeling is helplessness, tinged with shame for the last year of passivity.
  • (10) He was looking down at his feet - and she realised he felt the shame, too.
  • (11) Frankly, it is rather a shame that he does not fall under the Treasure Act (to do so he would have to be over 300 years old and be composed of more than 10% gold or silver).
  • (12) I look back at those moments with shame – you look to your parents to protect you so, when it seems they are falling apart, you lash out at them because you feel vulnerable.
  • (13) We wanted a place where men could discuss masculine topics without facing the same public shaming outcry that happens on social media sites – feminists are quick on the trigger to try to take down anything they consider wrong … Milo Yiannopoulos lost his verified status on Twitter because of his views on masculinity.
  • (14) Digital culture has hardly helped, adding revenge porn, trolls and stranger-shaming to the list of uncomfortable modern obstacles.
  • (15) A boss on some astronomic pay packet may be held back by shame from paying his cleaners too little relative to that, but emotion will not get in the way of ruthlessness if the process all takes place behind the veil of some corporate contract.
  • (16) "The house itself isn't very old ... it's a great shame."
  • (17) This year, on the first day, I bumped into a fellow market regular who was hawking a DVD title (no longer a badge of shame).
  • (18) Reda Eldanbouki, director of the women’s centre for guidance and legal awareness, an Egyptian NGO based in al-Mansoura, said it was shameful for Hijazi to ask the eight presenters to only come back in front of camera once their appearance has become “appropriate”.
  • (19) I got a hint of the price she has paid for her ambidextrous approach to cultural identify after her last interview was published, when a shocking number of British Pakistani men got in touch to denounce her as a shameful infidel.
  • (20) He said similar “name and shame” legislation had run afoul of the first amendment and that the rule may be unconstitutional.