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.
They note that the main culprit was a “catastrophically bad control-room design” where workers “were unable to understand what was going wrong.”
From Slate • Apr. 4, 2026
Recession was the most frequent culprit, responsible for driving losses of 10% or greater in eight of the 12 examples.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 24, 2026
“I think the culprit here isn’t the markets—it’s the fact that people are leaking insider information,” Crane says.
From Barron's • Mar. 19, 2026
His signature artworks often appear without warning, sparking global conversation, but the culprit quietly dodges the limelight.
From BBC • Mar. 18, 2026
If the trail was still “warm,” as their dad would say, they had a much better chance of catching the culprit.
From "Hopping Mad (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #4)" by Franklin W. Dixon
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.
