culprit
Americannoun
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a person or other agent guilty of or responsible for an offense or fault.
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a person arraigned for an offense.
noun
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law a person awaiting trial, esp one who has pleaded not guilty
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the person responsible for a particular offence, misdeed, etc
Etymology
Origin of culprit
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
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.
The likely culprit was a selloff in tech stocks—the Nasdaq composite index tumbled Thursday after Nvidia’s post-earnings gains quickly flipped into a fall.
From Barron's
The likely culprit was a selloff in tech stocks—the Nasdaq composite index tumbled Thursday after Nvidia’s post-earnings gains quickly flipped into a fall.
From Barron's
"The government initially played down the affair to cover for the real political culprits," Koukakis told AFP in an interview a few months ago.
From Barron's
The victim's brother Billy Blue said it was "an absolute disgrace" that to this day no-one had been charged over the crime, suggesting it was known who the culprit was.
From BBC
Local authorities have been trying to step up efforts to get a grip on the issue by using methods such as surveillance cameras to catch culprits.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
