perpetrator

UK/ˈpɜː(ɹ).pɪˌtɹeɪt.ə(ɹ)/US/ˈpɜː(ɹ).pɪˌtɹeɪt.ə(ɹ)/

nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,464 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: perpetrators

The perpetrator is the one who committed the crime. Catch the perpetrator, the alleged perpetrator, perpetrators unknown.

It is police and legal language, and it is used precisely because it does not say convicted — an alleged perpetrator has not been found guilty of anything. American police shorten it to perp, which British forces do not.

Definitions of perpetrator

1nounperpetratorThe one who committed the crime.B2+
“Police are asking witnesses to help them identify the perpetrator of the attack.”

perpetrator is a person.

Where it comes from

Latin perpetrator comes from perpetrare, to carry through — per, thoroughly, plus patrare, to accomplish.

Latin
perpetrātor
English, today
perpetrator

From Latin perpetrātor. by surface analysis, perpetrate + -or.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

perpetrator in the wild

The perpetrator, 35-year-old George Pierre Hennard, drove his pickup truck through the front window of the cafeteria before opening fire, killing 23 people and wounding 27 others.
Luby's shooting
The perpetrator, a 27-year-old German man, was arrested.
2016 Munich knife attack
After a shooting, perpetrators generally either commit suicide or are restrained or killed by law enforcement officers.
Mass shootings in the United States
The attack began when the perpetrator shot and killed his commanding officer and two others at Suratham Phithak Military Camp, the base where he was stationed.
Nakhon Ratchasima shootings
During the attack, the perpetrator posted updates and shared a live stream on his Facebook account.
Nakhon Ratchasima shootings

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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.

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