survivor guilt
2
8.3
- noun
- /sərˈvaɪvər ɡɪlt/
:
culpa del sobreviviente
- After the accident, she struggled with deep survivor guilt for being the only one who walked away unharmed.
- feelings of survivor guilt
And lots of veterans have survivor's guilt.
- And lots of veterans have survivor's guilt.
- And so I was replaying it, which is, again, a version of survivor's guilt because it was his big sister.
- But afterwards, I actually had a lot of survivor's guilt afterwards because my, my cancer felt so treatable.
- I have a very happy life and I have got rid of the depression that followed the survivor guilt that I had as a refugee.
- And they've got survivor's guilt they blame themselves for.
- It is a sort of survivor's guilt to some degree.
- And, you know, have I dealt with that survivor's guilt for such a long time?
- There was almost this survivor's guilt that they had.
- All of those things are responses to survivor's guilt.
- But what I, what I, what I do have is I do have some survivor's guilt.
Examples
-
He brought back a dose of survivor guilt, and it scarred him for the rest of his life.
Fiction book (2001) -
Leaving behind friends, family, homes, pets, and an established social network bestows a deep sense of loss and may result in feelings of survivor guilt (Surez-Orozco et al., 2010).
Academic text (2013) -
There was almost this survivor's guilt that they had.
-
So that for me, after moving through the survivor's guilt and all the other, like, why did I say no?
-
So survivor's guilt for me and how I handle it now is by talking about it.
-
And, you know, have I dealt with that survivor's guilt for such a long time?
-
And I tell you, survivor's guilt is a very sticky thing.
-
I have a very happy life and I have got rid of the depression that followed the survivor guilt that I had as a refugee.
-
My father's death less than a year earlier may have stirred her survivor guilt.
Fiction book (1998) -
But afterwards, I actually had a lot of survivor's guilt afterwards because my, my cancer felt so treatable.
Synonyms
375
2.4
A feeling of being sorry and responsible for doing something wrong
156
4.5
A deep, painful feeling of regret and guilt after doing something wrong
16
4.2
A feeling of being sorry and worried after doing something wrong
1
3.9
Feeling sorry and responsible for doing something wrong
Antonyms
How Guilty
2
8.3
375
2.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The term is a straightforward noun–noun compound: combining 'survivor' (a person who has survived) with 'guilt' (a remorseful emotional state) yields the meaning 'guilt felt by someone who survived an event.' This compositional, literal relation is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will very likely infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Survivor guilt comes from the simple image of a person who 'survives' an accident or war while others do not, so the survivor feels strong guilt for being alive. That's why the phrase means feeling blame or that you do not deserve to have survived when others died.