mea culpa

[mey-uh kuhl-puh, mee-uh, me-ah kool-pah]

interjection

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

noun

plural

mea culpas 

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

mea culpa

/ ˈmeɪɑː ˈkʊlpɑː /

1. an acknowledgment of guilt

mea culpa

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.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of mea culpa¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of mea culpa¹

literally: my fault

Related Words

• my bad www.thesaurus.com
• my fault www.thesaurus.com

When To Use

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.