culprit

  • 11culprit — UK [ˈkʌlprɪt] / US noun [countable] Word forms culprit : singular culprit plural culprits 1) someone who is responsible for doing something bad or illegal Police have so far failed to find the culprits. 2) the cause of something bad happening The …

    English dictionary

  • 12Culprit — A culprit, under English law properly the prisoner at the bar, is one accused of a crime. The term is used, generally, of one guilty of an offence. In origin the word is a combination of two Anglo French legal words, culpable: guilty, and prit or …

    Wikipedia

  • 13culprit — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ big, chief, main, major, primary (esp. AmE), prime, real, true, worst ▪ In the battle to stay s …

    Collocations dictionary

  • 14culprit — cul|prit [ˈkʌlprıt] n [Date: 1600 1700; : Anglo French; Origin: cul (from culpable guilty ) + prit ready (to prove it) ] 1.) the person who is guilty of a crime or doing something wrong →↑victim ▪ Police finally managed to catch the culprit. 2.)… …

    Dictionary of contemporary English

  • 15culprit — noun The person or thing at fault for a problem or crime. I tightened the loose bolt that was the culprit; it should work now. See Also: culpable, mea culpa …

    Wiktionary

  • 16culprit — cul|prit [ kʌlprıt ] noun count 1. ) someone who is responsible for doing something bad or illegal: Police have so far failed to find the culprits. 2. ) the cause of something bad happening: The workload is bigger than ever, and technology seems… …

    Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • 17culprit — [17] Culprit appears to be a fossilized survival of the mixture of English and French once used in English courts. The usually accepted account of its origin is that it is a lexicalization of an exchange in court between the accused and the… …

    The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • 18culprit — noun a person who is responsible for a crime or other misdeed. ↘the cause of a problem. Origin C17: orig. in the judicial formula Culprit, how will you be tried?, perh. from a misinterpretation of the written abbrev. cul. prist for Anglo Norman… …

    English new terms dictionary

  • 19culprit — noun police are doing all they can to catch the culprit Syn: guilty party, offender, wrongdoer, perpetrator, miscreant; criminal, malefactor, felon, lawbreaker, delinquent; informal baddy, crook, perp …

    Thesaurus of popular words

  • 20culprit — [17] Culprit appears to be a fossilized survival of the mixture of English and French once used in English courts. The usually accepted account of its origin is that it is a lexicalization of an exchange in court between the accused and the… …

    Word origins