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culpable

UK/ˈkʌlpəbəl/US/ˈkʌlpəbəl/
adjectiveC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,827 of 15,258neutral

Culpable means deserving the blame. Culpable negligence, held culpable, morally culpable.

It is the formal word of findings and reports, and it says responsibility rather than intention. In Scots law, culpable homicide is the offence that England calls manslaughter.

Definitions of culpable

  1. 1adjectiveculpableDeserving the blame.C1

    “The report found the company culpable for the accident and ordered it to pay damages.”

culpable is a quality.

Where it comes from

Latin culpabilis comes from culpa, a fault or blame.

  1. Latin

    culpābilis — blameworthy

  2. Old French

    culpable

  3. Middle English

    culpable

  4. English, today

    culpable

Built from

  • culpō · Latin — to blame, condemn
  • culpa · Latin — a fault, crime, mistake

From Middle English culpable, from Old French culpable, from Latin culpābilis (“blameworthy”), from culpō (“to blame, condemn”), from culpa (“a fault, crime, mistake”). Compare also culprit#Etymology.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

culpable in the wild

  • In origin the word is a combination of two Anglo-French legal words: "culpable" (guilty), and "prit" or "prest" (Old French: ready).

    Culprit

  • On the prisoner at the bar pleading not guilty, the clerk of the crown answered culpable, and states that he was ready ("prest") to join issue.

    Culprit

  • At his trial the following year, Pistorius was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of culpable homicide.

    Oscar Pistorius

  • Manslaughter is a term in common law for homicide considered less culpable than murder.

    Manslaughter

  • In Scots law, if a fire is the result of an act of recklessness, then the offence of culpable and reckless conduct applies.

    Wilful fire raising

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the culpa family

culpritculpable

culpable — used about once every 16,706 pages · #12,827 · point at the bar for the others