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Acquitted vs Guilty - What's the difference?

acquitted | guilty |

As a verb acquitted

is (acquit).

As an adjective guilty is

responsible for a dishonest act.

As a noun guilty is

(legal) a plea by a defendant who does not contest a charge.

acquitted

English

Verb

(head)
  • (acquit)

    • acquit

    English

    Alternative forms

    * acquite (archaic)

    Verb

  • To declare or find not guilty; innocent.
  • * '>citation
  • To set free, release or discharge from an obligation, duty, liability, burden, or from an accusation or charge.
    • The jury acquitted the prisoner ''of'' the charge.
  • * 1775 , , The Duenna
    • His poverty, can you acquit him of that?
  • * 1837 , , “Lord Bacon” in The Edinburgh Review , July 1837
    • If he [Bacon] was convicted, it was because it was impossible to acquit him without offering the grossest outrage to justice and common sense.
  • (obsolete, rare) To pay for; to atone for
  • * , line 1071
    • Till life to death acquit my forced offence.
  • To discharge, as a claim or debt; to clear off; to pay off; to requite, to fulfill.
  • * , 1200
    • ‘Aquyte him wel, for goddes love,’ quod he;
  • * 1640 , , Tasso
    • Midst foes (as champion of the faith) he ment / That palme or cypress should his painees acquite .
  • * 1836 , , Orations I-382
    • I admit it to be not so much the duty as the privilege of an American citizen to acquit this obligation to the memory of his fathers with discretion and generosity.
  • * 1844 , ” in Essays: second series
    • We see young men who owe us a new world, so readily and lavishly they promise, but they never acquit the debt; they die young and dodge the account: or if they live, they lose themselves in the crowd.
  • (reflexive) To clear one’s self.
  • * , III-ii
    • Pray God he may acquit him of suspicion!
  • (reflexive) To bear or conduct one’s self; to perform one’s part.
    • The soldier acquitted himself well in battle.
    The orator acquitted himself very poorly.
  • * November 2 2014 , Daniel Taylor, " Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk
    • Van Gaal responded by replacing Adnan Januzaj with Carrick and, in fairness, the emergency centre-half did exceedingly well given that he has not played since May. McNair also acquitted himself well after Rojo was injured sliding into a challenge with Martín Demichelis
  • * 1766 , , The vicar of Wakefield , xiv
    • Though this was one of the first mercantile transactions of my life, yet I had no doubt about acquitting myself with reputation.
  • (obsolete) To release, set free, rescue.
  • * , I-vii-52
    • Till I have acquit your captive Knight.
  • (archaic)
  • * , I-iii
    • I am glad I am so acquit of this tinder box.

    Synonyms

    * absolve * clear * exonerate * innocent * exculpate * release * discharge

    Derived terms

    * acquital, acquittal

    Antonyms

    * (to declare innocent) condemn, convict

    References

    * * English irregular past participles ----

    guilty

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Responsible for a dishonest act.
  • :
  • (lb) Judged to have committed a crime.
  • :
  • Having a sense of guilt.
  • :
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8 , passage=I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.}}
  • Blameworthy.
  • :
  • *
  • *:At twilight in the summereat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly—the only lavishment of which he was ever guilty —on the floor.

    • Synonyms

    * (l) * (l) (dialectal)

    Antonyms

    * not guilty * innocent

    Related terms

    * guilty as sin

    Noun

    (guilties)
  • (legal) A plea by a defendant who does not contest a charge.
  • (legal) A verdict of a judge or jury on a defendant judged to have committed a crime.
  • One who is declared guilty of a crime.
  • * {{quote-book, 1997, , Everyone Is Entitled to My Opinion citation
    • , passage=The not guilties walked out and went to work if they had jobs; the guilties were hauled away to spend maybe thirty days on the county farm growing cabbage.}}