culpability

noun

cul·​pa·​bil·​i·​ty ˌkəl-pə-ˈbi-lə-tē 

: responsibility for wrongdoing or failure : the quality or state of being culpable

moral/legal/criminal culpability

He refuses to acknowledge his own culpability.

Culpability for our failure to reduce petroleum imports falls across the political spectrum.

—Gregg Easterbrook

Synonyms of culpability

• blame
• guilt

Examples of culpability in a Sentence

cannot find culpability where there is neither knowledge that a crime has been committed nor evidence of intent to commit a crime

Recent Examples on the Web

Multiple Democrats have come out in favor of ousting her, including two who called on her to resign shortly after the Ethics panel came back with its finding of her culpability. —Jared Gans, The Hill, 21 Apr. 2026

That theory expanded into what became a third-party-culpability defense in the murder trials. —Flint McColgan, Boston Herald, 16 Apr. 2026

While the Russian government has taken steps in the past to acknowledge the culpability of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and his regime, some Russian-language commentators see the display as a massive step back toward denying the crimes of totalitarianism. —Nathan Hodge, CNN Money, 16 Apr. 2026

Claude’s potential culpability in this and other potential war crimes was a subject of widespread speculation, not only in the media but in Washington. —Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1652, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for culpability

• affability
• audibility
• bistability
• capability
• changeability
• contractility
• credibility
• disability
• disutility
• durability
• fallibility
• feasibility