twinge of guilt
1
5.0
- noun
:
punzada de culpa
- "Well, of course I showed it to everyone in my office and around the Convocation," I said, a fresh twinge of guilt poking at me.
- feel twinges of guilt
- slight twinge of guilt
Examples
-
I feel a twinge of guilt for knowing the truth about her wealth, but it's a secret I cannot share.
Fiction book (1995) -
A twinge of guilt touched her as he approached.
Fiction book (1995) -
If, however, you felt that little twinge of guilt, you may want to talk to God about it.
Blog text (13) -
"Sharon was grateful for the support, but felt a twinge of guilt.
Fiction book (1993) -
Chee felt a twinge of guilt.
Fiction book (1993) -
As they passed Mrs. Hanks, Temple felt a twinge of guilt that she was riding and the old woman was walking.
Fiction book (1994) -
There's a slight twinge of guilt that goes with that.
Blog text (27) -
St. Ed felt an unaccountable twinge of guilt for hurting the man's feelings.
Fiction book (1993) -
Especially since they had just finished dinner fifteen minutes ago, and Mary knew, with a slight twinge of guilt, she wasn't supposed to be in the water for a full hour after a meal.
Fiction book (1995) -
She felt a twinge of guilt after forgetting her friend's birthday.
Synonyms
28
5.6
A sudden sharp pain that is often a quick feeling of guilt or sadness
21
4.2
A sharp feeling of sadness or hurt after an unkind act
1
6.1
A sudden sharp feeling of regret about something you did or did not do
1
6.0
A small feeling of guilt in a situation
A sudden strong feeling of being sorry for something you did
How Guilty
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a sudden, sharp feeling of guilt' is directly and transparently derived from 'twinge' (a quick, sharp pang) combined with 'guilt' (remorse), with the preposition 'of' forming a straightforward noun-of-noun composition. This compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows predictable English morphology, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Twinge of guilt paints a small, sudden feeling with a body image. Twinge means a short, sharp pain and guilt is the bad feeling after doing something wrong, so the phrase means a sudden little feeling of 'guilt'.