mea culpa

American  

[may-uh kuhl-puh, mee-uh, me-ah kool-pah] / ˈmeɪ ə ˈkʌl pə, ˈmi ə, ˈmɛ ɑ ˈkʊl pɑ /

interjection

1. my fault! (used as an acknowledgment of one's responsibility).

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noun

• mea culpas
  plural

1. an acknowledgment of one's responsibility for a fault or error.

mea culpa British  

/ ˈmeɪɑː ˈkʊlpɑː /

1. an acknowledgment of guilt

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mea culpa Cultural  

1. An expression from Catholic ritual that assigns blame to oneself: “I gave you the wrong directions to my house — mea culpa.” From Latin, meaning “my fault” or “my blame.”

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Usage

What does mea culpa mean? Mea culpa is the Latin way of saying my bad. It literally means “through my (own) fault.”Mea culpa can be used as an interjection (much like my fault or my bad) or as a noun referring to an apology, as in The senator offered a mea culpa during the press conference. Example: Dave usually has a hard time admitting he’s wrong, so his mea culpa means a lot.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• mea culpas
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of mea culpa

From Latin: literally “through my fault”; mea culpa def. 1 was first recorded in 1200–50, and mea culpa def. 2 in 1815–20; cf. culpa ( def. )

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mea culpa

In Blair’s social media mea culpa, she said her intention wasn’t to harm anyone.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026

The French UN mission apologized in September for the critique, a mea culpa that was well-received by Washington and cleared the way for Lechevallier's appointment.

From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026

There was no accountability, no apology, no mea culpa.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026

In his mea culpa over the event, LemonLime’s Zietz wrote that interviews were available to “everyone regardless.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

I'm not blaming anyone for this state of affairs, mind you; nor merely crying mea culpa.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison

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Related Words

• my bad
• my fault

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