culprit

CEFRC1

/ˈkʌlpɹɪt/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The person or thing responsible for a crime or problem.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A prisoner accused but not yet tried.

Examples

  • As I read through the letters, I realized that the Pope was the true culprit.

  • None of them would admit to being the culprit.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
3
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meaning

  1. The person or thing at fault for a problem or crime.

More examples

In context

  • I have tightened the loose bolt that was the culprit; it should work now.

  • Railway police are making a full investigation into the matter, and the headmasters of schools have been approached, but it is difficult in such cases to discover the culprits, unless they are caught red-handed.

  • But the Dutch dominated only to waste numerous efforts, with Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie the main culprits.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The police quickly identified the blank who stole the car.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Anglo-Norman cul. prit, contraction of culpable: prest (d'averrer nostre bille) 'guilty: ready (to prove our case)', words used by prosecutor in opening a trial, mistaken in English for an address to the defendant. See culpable. It may have been influenced by Latin culpa (“blame, fault”).