culprit

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cul·prit

(kŭl′prĭt)

1. One charged with an offense or crime.

2. One guilty of a fault or crime.

[Probably from cul. prit, abbreviation for Anglo-Norman *culpable: prit d'averrer nostre bille, guilty: (I am) ready to aver our indictment : culpable, guilty (from Latin culpābilis; see culpable) + *prit, ready (variant of prest, from Latin praestō; see presto).]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

culprit

(ˈkʌlprɪt)

1. (Law) law a person awaiting trial, esp one who has pleaded not guilty

2. the person responsible for a particular offence, misdeed, etc

[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]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

cul•prit

(ˈkʌl prɪt)

n.

1. a person guilty of an offense or fault.

2. a person accused of or arraigned for an offense.

[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]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

culprit - someone who perpetrates wrongdoing

perpetrator

offender, wrongdoer - a person who transgresses moral or civil law

culprit

noun offender, criminal, villain, sinner, delinquent, felon, person responsible, guilty party, wrongdoer, miscreant, malefactor, evildoer, transgressor The real culprits in the fight have not yet been identified.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

مُذْنِبمُذنِب، آثِم، مُتَّهَم بِجَريمَـه

viníkpachatel

gerningsmand

syyllinen

krivac

tettes

sökudólgur

colpevole imputato reo

犯罪者

범인

kaltininkasprasikaltėlis

apsūdzētaisvainīgais

vinník

missdådare

ผู้กระทำความผิด

fail suçlu

thủ phạm

刑事被告犯过失者

culprit

[ˈkʌlprɪt] N → culpable mf (Jur) → acusado/a m/f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

culprit

[ˈkʌlprɪt] n

(= guilty person) → coupable mf

(= cause) → cause f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

culprit

n → Schuldige(r) mf; (Jur) → Täter(in) m(f); (inf) (= person causing trouble) → Übeltäter(in) m(f); (= thing causing trouble) → Übeltäter m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

culprit

[ˈkʌlprɪt] n → colpevole m/f

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

culprit

(ˈkalprit) noun

a person responsible for something wrong, unpleasant etc. As soon as he saw the broken window he began to look for the culprit.

culprit

→ مُذْنِب viník gerningsmand Täter υπαίτιος culpable syyllinen coupable krivac colpevole 犯罪者 범인 dader skurk winowajca acusado, culpado обвиняемый missdådare ผู้กระทำความผิด fail thủ phạm 刑事被告

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References in classic literature ?

This murmur was occasioned by the arrival of the culprits; a strong picket of archers preceded them, and appeared at the angle of the arcade.

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A few paces from the bottom of the steps were grouped the forty-odd culprits, with behind them, in solid array, the several hundred blacks of the plantation.

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Crooks, however, was not of a revengeful disposition, and agreed to release the culprits as soon as the pillaged property should be restored.

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(This shrubbery was a well-known haven of refuge for culprits at Otradnoe.

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The same flower of innocence had flourished, or was still flourishing, on their brow, that is seen on the brow of the culprit in your house." Villefort shrieked, clasped his hands, and looked at the doctor with a supplicating air.

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Customs have been handed down by ages of repetition, but the punishment for ignoring a custom is a matter for individual treatment by a jury of the culprit's peers, and I may say that justice seldom misses fire, but seems rather to rule in inverse ratio to the ascendency of law.

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It could have betokened nothing short of the anticipated execution of some rioted culprit, on whom the sentence of a legal tribunal had but confirmed the verdict of public sentiment.

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That hiss, faint as it was, irritated the irascible gentleman, and sealed the culprit's fate.

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There was no voice of rebuke; but there were averted eyes; there was a silence and an air of solemnity that struck a chill to the culprit's heart.

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"Brother, you behold a culprit, a criminal, a wretch, a libertine, a man of enormities!

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They who composed the outer circle of faces were on tiptoe to gaze; and even the culprit for an instant forgot his shame in a deeper emotion, and exposed his abject features, in order to cast an anxious and troubled glance at the dark assemblage of chiefs.

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"To Hell for life"--that is a foolish penalty: the culprit chooses the duration of his punishment.