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

Based upon their replies, occupying Allied officials ranked their culpability, then tried the worst offenders — most famously in the Nuremberg trials, but also in numerous local tribunals. — Fern Schumer Chapman, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2026

But the legal system’s binary standard—sane and guilty, or insane and not—fits imperfectly with human intuitions about culpability in tragedies like the Clancys’. — Eren Orbey, New Yorker, 30 July 2026

However, both may profoundly influence culpability, competency, and the fairness of criminal proceedings. — Walter Pavlo, Forbes.com, 25 July 2026

However, the move did not clear the produce company from culpability. — Bloomberg, Mercury News, 23 July 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