a guilty pleasure

Meaning

1. 1nouncountableinformal

   Something you enjoy even though you feel slightly embarrassed about it, because it is seen as silly or unhealthy.

   Grammar: Countable: my guilty pleasure, one of my guilty pleasures.

   Patterns

   • my guilty pleasure is something
   • a guilty pleasure of mine

   Reality TV is my guilty pleasure, although I would never admit it at work.

   A bag of chips on a Friday night is her guilty pleasure.

   His guilty pleasure is listening to cheesy pop songs in the car.

Word forms

Common combinations

my guilty pleasure

Chocolate cake is my guilty pleasure.

a secret guilty pleasure

Karaoke is her secret guilty pleasure.

indulge a guilty pleasure

On holiday, we indulge our guilty pleasures.

admit to a guilty pleasure

He finally admitted to a guilty pleasure for romantic films.

a harmless guilty pleasure

Daytime soaps are a harmless guilty pleasure.

Synonyms and how they differ

secret vice

Secret vice is more old-fashioned and suggests something hidden, while guilty pleasure is light and often shared openly.

indulgence

Indulgence is neutral and can be a treat you feel fine about, whereas guilty pleasure includes mild embarrassment.

weakness

Weakness suggests you cannot resist something, while guilty pleasure focuses on enjoying it despite some shame.

treat

A treat is simply something nice with no guilt attached, unlike a guilty pleasure.

Word family

guilty adjective

feeling or deserving blame

guilt noun

the feeling of having done wrong

pleasure noun

a feeling of enjoyment

guiltily adverb

in a way that shows guilt

Commonly confused: a guilty pleasure or guilty conscience?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “a guilty pleasure”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words