I thought “guilty” meant “convicted.” Here is how native speakers use it in daily life.

① Guilty = Convicted? Actually, this is how it's used in court
When you are studying English, there are words you think,
“I probably won't use this in daily life.”
One of them is

guilty.When you look it up in a dictionary,

it says “convicted,” so
doesn't it feel a bit like

a word from a courtroom drama?

First, when passing a sentence in court,
the terms used are
guilty for convicted,
and not guilty for acquitted.

Wait, so it's not innocent...
Does it also mean that they couldn't prove guilt?
We use not guilty.


But actually,
native speakers use this guilty very
casually and frequently in daily life.

② This is how native speakers use 'guilty' in daily life
For example—

* When you eat cake at night even though you shouldn't.
* When you snack on your child's treats.
* Even when you leave food behind after being treated to a meal.

In those moments, what native speakers say is

“I feel guilty.”

Today,
I will explain the true usage of this guilty
in an easy-to-understand way.


It's not just about being convicted. There is a 'guilty' used in daily life.

At night, you ate cake knowing you shouldn't have...
Even though it's already late.

“Well, just for today...”
After eating it while thinking that, a feeling suddenly pops into your head.

A little bit of guilt.

At times like this, native speakers often say this:

I feel guilty.

If you only remember guilty as meaning convicted,
it feels a bit like
a courtroom term.

But actually,
native speakers use this guilty

very casually and frequently
in daily life.

Today,
is a story about that daily 'guilty'.


It is the
guilt
of 'I feel a bit guilty'.

It feels close to the Japanese
“I shouldn't have done that...”

In English,

this guilty
is used very naturally.
To say it even more casually,



Guilty!can be used on its own.

For example,


Did you eat the last cookie?(Did you eat the last cookie?)


Guilty.(It was me... haha)
It is an expression of

cute, minor guilt.




③ The more difficult a word seems, the closer it is to daily EnglishDepending on the sentence where


guilty appears,
it might feel like
a difficult word,
but in reality,

• Eating cake at night
• Snacking on a child's treats
• Breaking a diet
it is used for such

small, daily feelings of guilt.

English
is not about 'difficult words,'

but once you know how to use them,
they become familiar all at once.
If today,
you end up eating cake at night,
try saying this:



I feel a little guilty.



Such small English phrasesturn Englishfrom 'study' into 'daily life'.


Guilty as charged!

Even something like this,


if translated literally, means 'guilty as per the indictment!', butin daily conversation,“Oh, you caught me? That's right!”

it is used as a joke.
“You're sneaking snacks again, aren't you?”“
Guilty

! (Caught me!)” It gets fun, doesn't it?

The true meaning of “guilty” used by native speakers in daily life. Once you step outside the courtroom, "guilty" is used in a more familiar and
slightly 'cuter' sense.

Guilty pleasure(Guilty pleasure)

This is a term that has started to be heard in Japan recently too.
“Late-night ramen that I eat even though it's bad for my body”
“Anime for kids that I keep watching even though I'm an adult”
You have those, right?

Refers to a pleasure that you feel guilty about but can't stop.

It is perfect for expressing not only the heavy meaning of 'having a sense of sin,' but also daily '
feeling sorry' (when declining a friend's invitation) or '
feeling hesitant' (when eating something delicious by yourself), expressing 'remorse' or 'guilt'!

There is also this:
I feel guilty for leaving work early.
(I feel bad for everyone because I left work early.)

Thinking about it that way, doesn't it seem like the meanings other than 'convicted' have more potential for use, making it exciting?

English is
more about 'how to use it' than 'the number of words you've memorized.'
That was the point I felt.