Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Accused by one's self or by one's conscience.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • As an allegory, Carnations predicts that Ray aka Redfeather—shy, passive, loving but distant as a parent and as a son, insecure as a husband, self-accused and self-punished in the world—will survive all forms of internal and external pressure, judgment, and chaos.

    Raymond Carver Carol Sklenicka 2009

  • One can say, at any rate, that deformed in his own private life, he became absorbed in what has come to be called the metaphysic of a bureaucratic nightmare in which one is born powerless, accused and self-accused, not knowing of what.

    The Logic of Franz Kafka Pritchett, V.S. 1982

  • In conclusion, the Author must add, in order that he may not stand self-accused of misleading his readers with regard to his personal position, that good fortune has so far favoured his own exertions, that, although still of the craft, he can no longer lay claim to the title of a

    A Tramp's Wallet stored by an English goldsmith during his wanderings in Germany and France William Duthie

  • On our return we passed one of the worst self-accused sinners busily hauling in the cast catch from his weir along the shore.

    The New England Magazine Volume 1, No. 3, March, 1886 Bay State Monthly Volume 4, No. 3, March, 1886 Various

  • And inasmuch as calamitous events, such as the appearance of comets, earthquakes or pestilences, are usually the signal for great moral reforms, doubtless many a promise of a purer life was registered in that hour of terror by those self-accused by their quickened consciences.

    Lippincott's Magazine, December 1878 Various

  • Apart from the Inspector and the self-accused man the room also contained Mr Campion, lounging carelessly against the bookcase, his fair head bent and his hands thrust deep in his pockets.

    Death of a Ghost Allingham, Margery, 1904-1966 1934

  • She stood there with her head bowed, like a child self-accused of wrong-doing, with all the flaunting joy of spring tapping against the window on which she had turned her back.

    The Kingdom Round the Corner A Novel Coningsby Dawson 1921

  • So says this order of sceptic, and, to my mind, he says a great deal more than his facts justify; for although contemporary writers generally are agreed that a large percentage of those people who voluntarily confessed they were werwolves were mere dissemblers, there is no recorded conclusive testimony to show that all such self-accused persons were shams and delusionaries.

    Werwolves Elliott O'Donnell 1918

  • He scrambled awkwardly to his feet, and said to the self-accused murderer in tones of limpid penitence: 'I'm awfully sorry, my dear sir, but your tale is really rubbish.'

    The Innocence of Father Brown: The Three Tools of Death Gilbert Keith 1911

  • He scrambled awkwardly to his feet, and said to the self-accused murderer in tones of limpid penitence: "I'm awfully sorry, my dear sir, but your tale is really rubbish."

    The Innocence of Father Brown 1905

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