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Guilty vs Delinquent - What's the difference?

guilty | delinquent |

As adjectives the difference between guilty and delinquent

is that guilty is responsible for a dishonest act while delinquent is late or failing to pay a debt or other financial obligation, like a mortgage or loan.

As nouns the difference between guilty and delinquent

is that guilty is a plea by a defendant who does not contest a charge while delinquent is one who disobeys or breaks rules or laws.

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

    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.}}

    delinquent

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Late or failing to pay a debt or other financial obligation, like a mortgage or loan.
  • Fred is delinquent in making his car payment.
    The company made a new effort to collect delinquent payments.
  • Failing in or neglectful of a duty or obligation; guilty of a misdeed or offense
  • Synonyms

    * (late or failing to pay a debt) defaulting

    Derived terms

    * delinquency * juvenile delinquent * moral delinquent

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who disobeys or breaks rules or laws.
  • (obsolete) a term applied to royalists by their opponents in the English Civil War 1642 - 1645. Charles I was known as the chief delinquent.
  • Synonyms

    * See also