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
Gregg EasterbrookExamples 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
By any measure, climate denialism is a poor way to duck culpability for humanity’s environmental messes.
—Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 11 June 2025
But their legal outcomes will all depend on each person’s age and culpability, experts said.
—Emma Tucker, CNN Money, 1 May 2025
Unfortunately, Singh wraps up each subplot in too didactic a fashion — Maitri’s unnerving culpability is deserving of far more dramatic focus — but watching a mother and daughter navigate their community’s suspicions makes for a fairly entertaining watch.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 17 June 2025
How much bandwidth is left for the grief and anger of the early pandemic days and whatever culpability Mr. Cuomo had in furthering it?
—Ginia Bellafante, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for culpability
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Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 11 June 2025
But their legal outcomes will all depend on each person’s age and culpability, experts said.
—Emma Tucker, CNN Money, 1 May 2025
Unfortunately, Singh wraps up each subplot in too didactic a fashion — Maitri’s unnerving culpability is deserving of far more dramatic focus — but watching a mother and daughter navigate their community’s suspicions makes for a fairly entertaining watch.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 17 June 2025
How much bandwidth is left for the grief and anger of the early pandemic days and whatever culpability Mr. Cuomo had in furthering it?
—Ginia Bellafante, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for culpability
Cite this Entry
“Culpability.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culpability. Accessed 23 Jul. 2025.
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