culpable
KUL-puh-bul
/ˈkʌlpəbəl/
Deserving blame or considered responsible for a fault or wrong.
Implies moral or legal accountability for an undesirable outcome or transgression.
The story behind the word. Entered Middle English via Old French from Latin 'culpabilis' (deserving blame). The root 'culpa' survives directly in modern legal phrases like 'mea culpa' (my fault), reflecting centuries of legal and moral jurisprudence.
Word relationships
- blameworthy: Blameworthy is an everyday synonym, whereas culpable carries stronger legal and formal weight.
- blameless: Blameless means entirely free from fault or wrongdoing.
Commonly confused with
- guilty: Guilty specifies having committed a specific crime in law, whereas culpable denotes deserving blame or moral responsibility.
Word family
- culpability (noun): The state of deserving blame
- culprit (noun): A person responsible for a crime or misdeed
Collocations
- culpable negligence
- hold someone culpable
- culpable homicide
- found culpable
Example sentences
- "The jury found the construction firm culpable for negligence after ignoring safety warnings about the scaffolding." Legal court judgment
- "Even if an executive did not order the fraudulent accounting, failing to audit the reports rendered him morally culpable." Ethical accountability essay
Memory hook
Think of CULPRIT: a culprit is CULPABLE (deserving blame). Culprits are culpable.
When not to use
Do not use to mean merely present during a mistake; the person must carry fault or blame.
Fun facts
- The Latin phrase 'mea culpa' originated as a ritual confession of sin in medieval Western Christian liturgy before entering general language.
Related words
Explore more words
culpability, guilty, dereliction, censure, condemn, punitive
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