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

Gartner cited the pandemic as the primary culprit, due to shelter-in-place rules that resulted in people spending less on mobile devices.

From Fortune

Oh says the main culprit behind the upcoming death of the Hyades is the Milky Way.

From Science News For Students

As a result, the Deccan Traps still hadn’t been ruled out as the main culprit of the dinos’ die-off.

From Science News

So even though much of the evidence so far points to the impact as the mass extinction culprit, uncertainty still lingers.

From Science News

Now, a global inventory of methane sources reveals the major culprits behind rising methane pollution in the 21st century.

From Science News

Plus there is another problem that the viruses pose—the problem that apparently is the culprit this year—they evolve.

From The Daily Beast

But there seems little doubt that North Korea was the primary culprit.

From The Daily Beast

Well, so much for Obama being the sole culprit for why we think America is on the wrong track.

From The Daily Beast

In terms of the earth's history, complex life was relatively slow to evolve—and a new study finds a simple culprit.

From The Daily Beast

In both cases, the culprit is one perceived to be “the Other”: gays, the African president, whatever.

From The Daily Beast

And he walked into Lombard Street with the feelings of a culprit walking up the scaffold to his execution.

From Project Gutenberg

She had called the culprit to her desk just before the noon recess and now showed her the enormity of her offenses.

From Project Gutenberg

All the wrong wrought was his, and yet he sat there, calmly eying me, as though he were a righteous judge and I the culprit.

From Project Gutenberg

You inflict a punishment which confers honour on the culprit in the eyes of the only persons for whose opinion he cares.

From Project Gutenberg

And we'll make fun of the fact that your maid recognized Miss Galloway as the culprit.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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