Skuldbelägga

Skuldbelägga is a Swedish verb that means to impute or lay guilt on someone. It involves attributing moral or legal responsibility for a particular act or outcome, and often adds a sense of moral burden or stigma. The term is commonly used in discussions of ethics, politics, journalism, and everyday speech to describe the act of assigning blame in a way that emphasizes guilt rather than factual accountability.

Etymology and form: the word is formed from skuld, meaning guilt or debt, and belägga, meaning to lay upon or impose. Thus, skuldbelägga literally conveys the idea of laying guilt upon someone. It is typically used as a transitive verb: one skuldbelägger another for a given action or result.

Usage and nuance: skuldbelägga can carry a negative or pejorative connotation, especially when the attribution of guilt is seen as unfair, exaggerated, or intended to manipulate opinions. It is often discussed in contexts where rhetoric or social dynamics influence perceptions of responsibility, rather than through objective evidence alone. The term is distinct from simply accusing someone; it emphasizes the moral weight and social consequences of labeling someone as guilty.

Examples: Journalists or commentators might accuse politicians of skuldbelägga an entire group by presenting overly broad claims about responsibility for a problem. In analysis, the term can describe strategies that rely on shifting guilt onto others to deflect scrutiny from one’s own actions.

See also: beskylla (to accuse), ansvar (responsibility), skyld (guilt).