| Library / English Dictionary |
CULPRIT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Someone who perpetrates wrongdoing
Synonyms:
culprit; perpetrator
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("culprit" is a kind of...):
offender; wrongdoer (a person who transgresses moral or civil law)
Context examples:
Earth system scientists from the University of California, Irvine have identified another culprit when a river overflows its banks: leafy plants.
(Plant physiology will be major contributor to future river flooding, National Science Foundation)
I see the direction in which all this points. The culprit is— “Mr. John Turner,” cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I went to Devonshire with the conviction that Fitzroy Simpson was the true culprit, although, of course, I saw that the evidence against him was by no means complete.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Then he talked harshly to the unwitting culprit, and in his voice there was nothing but godlike wrath.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
The instant Laurie's step was heard in the hall, Meg fled into the study, and Mrs. March received the culprit alone.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
As Buck sprang to punish him, the lash of François’s whip sang through the air, reaching the culprit first; and nothing remained to Buck but to recover the bone.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
The culprit falters excuses, and professes a determination to do better tomorrow.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
My eyes had spoken, I knew, until I had found the culprits out and silenced them.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Their arrival was dreaded by the elder Miss Bennets, and Jane more especially, who gave Lydia the feelings which would have attended herself, had she been the culprit, and was wretched in the thought of what her sister must endure.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
The likely culprit?
(Tectonic collision 50 million years ago led to widespread ocean changes, National Science Foundation)
