culpa
Americannoun
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culpae
plural
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Roman and Civil Law. negligence; neglect (distinguished from dolus).
One is not always liable before law for culpa resulting in damages.
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guilt; sin.
noun
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civil law an act of neglect
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a fault; sin; guilt
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of culpa
1250–1300; Old English < Latin: fault, liability, blame
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
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
Simpson, was produced 10 years after the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman and just prior to “If I Did It,” perhaps the most arrogant mea culpa in the history of confessional literature.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
I'm not blaming anyone for this state of affairs, mind you; nor merely crying mea culpa.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
What followed was Khosrowshahi’s meticulous strategy, involving public mea culpae, governance changes, software overhauls, reworked safety and crime protocols, and political diplomacy.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 26, 2018
Thus the evil of the penalty accords with the evil of the sin—malum poenae with malum culpae.
From The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; On Human Nature by T. Bailey (Thomas Bailey) Saunders
And I do not think I can stand by any longer--which might be adaerere culpae.
From The Castle Inn by Stanley John Weyman
De culpâ, he adds, is the same as culpae; so in the ii.
From Conspiracy of Catiline and the Jurgurthine War by John Selby Watson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
