culprit

UK:**UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/ˈkʌlprɪt/US:USA pronunciation: IPA and respellingUSA pronunciation: IPA/ˈkʌlprɪt/ ,USA pronunciation: respelling(kulprit)


WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
cul•prit /ˈkʌlprɪt/USA pronunciation   n. [countable]
  1. a person guilty of an offense or fault, or one accused:led in the culprits to stand before the judge.
  2. Lawa thing responsible for some bad effect:The doctors found the culprit: the tick responsible for Lyme disease.
See -culp-.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
cul•prit  (kulprit),USA pronunciation n. 
  1. a person or other agent guilty of or responsible for an offense or fault.
  2. Lawa person arraigned for an offense.
  • 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 1670–80

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
culprit /ˈkʌlprɪt/ n
  1. a person awaiting trial, esp one who has pleaded not guilty
  2. the person responsible for a particular offence, misdeed, etc
Etymology: 17th Century: from Anglo-French cul-, short for culpable guilty + prit ready, indicating that the prosecution was ready to prove the guilt of the one charged
'culprit' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Collocations: always [looking, searching] for a culprit, the culprit of the [error, crime, murder], All culprits will be [penalized, prosecuted]., more...

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