unguilt

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪlt

Etymology 1

From un- +‎ guilt.

Verb

unguilt (third-person singular simple present unguilts, present participle unguilting, simple past and past participle unguilted)

1. (transitive) To remove the sin or guilt from; pardon; excuse.
   • 1986, Edward Haymes, Stephanie Cain Van D'Elden, Midwest Modern Language Association, The Dark figure in medieval German and Germanic literature:

     [...] admits his guilt and then finds relatives who want to "unguilt" him, [...]

   • 2006, Libby Sternberg, Finding the Forger:

     But I felt unguilted as soon as I did it. It made the whole incident feel normal, run-of-the-mill.

   • 2009, David Janssen, Edward Whitelock, Apocalypse Jukebox: The End of the World in American Popular Music - Page 72:

     No sin goes unpunished here, no joy unguilted.

Derived terms

• unguilting

Noun

unguilt (uncountable)

1. Guiltlessness; innocence.
   • 1853, Francis Lieber, On civil liberty and self-government - Page 21:

     The guilt, the crime strikes first, and from it are abstracted the negations unguilt, innocence.

   • 1976, Rochelle Heller Stone, Bolesław Leśmian: The Poet and His Poetry:

     ("I love you for the unguilt of your madness . . .")

   • 2015, Micah Blacklight, Chapter Twenty-One: Songhai:

     When he looks at her she wears a secretive smile, the knowledge of their act between them like a thauma'd thing, laced with the unguilt of defiant exploration.

Etymology 2

From un- +‎ guilt (“gilt”).

Adjective

unguilt (comparative more unguilt, superlative most unguilt)

1. Not gilt or gilded.
   • 1696, The Connoisseur, volume 5, published 1903, page 204:

     Two silver monteths, two large fflaggons, two large tankards, two silver salvers, a voyder and a knyfe, two silver salts, two guilt bolls of the like size, one other boll, three silver bolls, in all 24 pieces guilt and unguilt.