後ろめたい

• 読み: うしろめたい
• ローマ字: ushirometai
• 漢字の分解: 後ろ (ushiro) — behind, back; めたい — uneasy, uncomfortable (adjectival suffix)
• 発音: /ɯ.ɕi.ɾo.me.ta.i/

意味

Guilty; ashamed; having a guilty conscience. The uneasy feeling that something one has done — or failed to do — was wrong.

An i-adjective describing a subtle, lingering sense of moral discomfort or guilt, even when the wrongdoing may be minor or ambiguous. It differs from 恥ずかしい (embarrassed) by its moral quality, and from 罪悪感 (sense of guilt) by being less formal and more subjective. The nominalised form 後ろめたさ is also common. The image is of something lurking behind one's back, the conscience following silently.

例文

1. 親に嘘をついた後、何日も後ろめたい気持ちが続いた。
2. 友人より先に内定を得たことが、どこか後ろめたかった。
3. 何も悪いことはしていないのに、後ろめたさを感じるのはなぜだろう。

使い方ガイド

場面: daily life, interpersonal relations, ethics, psychology

トーン: neutral

起源と歴史

The root 後ろ (ushiro) means 'behind,' suggesting the feeling of something lurking at one's back — the metaphor of a guilty conscience following you. The adjectival ending めたい conveys a subjective unease or discomfort directed inward.

文化的背景

時代: Classical

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal