culprit

[kuhl-prit]

noun

1. a person or other agent guilty of or responsible for an offense or fault.

2. a person arraigned for an offense.

culprit

/ ˈkʌlprɪt /

noun

1. law a person awaiting trial, esp one who has pleaded not guilty

2. the person responsible for a particular offence, misdeed, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of culprit¹

1670–80; traditionally explained as cul (representing Latin culpābilis guilty) + prit (representing Anglo-French prest ready), marking the prosecution as ready to prove the defendant's guilt. See culpable, presto

Word History and Origins

Origin of culprit¹

C17: from Anglo-French cul-, short for culpable guilty + prit ready, indicating that the prosecution was ready to prove the guilt of the one charged

Example Sentences

This time the culprits aren’t relatively small peripheral economies such as Greece and Portugal.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But when it comes time to arrest the culprit, Judy learns the rattlesnake -- Gary -- is simply trying to uncover a secret to restore his family's honor.

Read more on Barron's

But with the authorities severely under-resourced - there is only one pathologist in a country that has a population of 8.9 million - it is often impossible to gather the evidence needed to track down the culprits.

Read more on BBC

But the real culprit, according to Chief Executive Daniel Heaf, was a strategy pursued by former management that neglected its most-popular categories in pursuit of new avenues of growth.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

One culprit has been a strengthening U.S. dollar.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• criminal 
• felon 
• fugitive 
• miscreant 
• offender 
• wrongdoer