to look guilty
27
3.4
- phrasal verb
- He tried to deny it, but his nervous behavior only made him look guilty.
- makes you look guilty
- look guilty as hell
- trying not to look guilty
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Watch on YouTubeIf they didn't sue him, they'd have looked guilty, and another trial meant more lawyers and more investigators sniffing around.
- If they didn't sue him, they'd have looked guilty, and another trial meant more lawyers and more investigators sniffing around.
Examples
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I look guilty as hell.
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Boy, do you look guilty.
Fiction book (2000) -
Plus, he says, "He just looks guilty."
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Running only makes you look guilty.
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The small girl's face looks guilty.
Fiction book (2002) -
I could swear he looked guilty about something.
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Why were you so anxious to have her look guilty?
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She looks guilty to me, Dad.
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I nodded, trying not to look guilty.
Fiction book (1997) -
Deacon turns to Fred, who looks guilty.
Fiction book (2002)
How Guilty
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'look' = appear or give the impression, and 'guilty' = feeling remorse, so 'look guilty' straightforwardly means 'appear to feel guilt.' This adjective-predication pattern is common across languages and follows standard English syntax, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Look guilty creates a simple picture: a person who has done something wrong and whose face shows it — they lower their eyes, avoid looking at others, or act nervous. So look + guilty means 'to seem to feel guilty'.