mea culpa

noun mea cul·pa \ ˌmā-ə-ˈku̇l-pə , ˌmā-ä- , -ˈku̇l-(ˌ)pä \

|Updated on: 25 Jun 2018

Examples: mea culpa in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of mea culpa

: a formal acknowledgment of personal fault or error

The mayor's public mea culpa didn't satisfy his critics.

See mea culpa defined for English-language learners

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Examples of mea culpa in a Sentence

The mayor's public mea culpa didn't satisfy his critics.

Recent Examples of mea culpa from the Web

To punctuate the mea culpa, AT&T parted ways with Bob Quinn, its chief lobbyist.

— scott moritz, Bloomberg.com, "AT&T's M&A Fumble Still Leaves CEO With More Wins Than Losses," 12 May 2018
Consider this a mea culpa inspired by our recent NBA A to Z podcast visit with the Portland Trail Blazers' C.J. McCollum, a journalism graduate from Lehigh University who advocated for more accountability in the sports media profession.

— sam amick, USA TODAY, "Why I bet against LeBron James and the Cavaliers in Game 7," 29 Apr. 2018
The general counsel resigned, Jimenez gave selected interviews to the media to issue a mea culpa, and Narasimhan wrote to employees and spoke with investors about restoring confidence in the company.

— ed silverman, STAT, "Swiss attorney general will not pursue bribery charges against Novartis for payments to Trump lawyer," 6 June 2018
President Donald Trump on Wednesday tangentially weighed in on the issue via Twitter, asking why ABC had issued a mea culpa to Jarrett over Barr’s comments when the network has never called the president to apologize for ostensibly harsh coverage.

— sy mukherjee, Fortune, "Ambien Maker Sanofi to Roseanne Barr: No, Our Sleeping Pill Doesn't Cause Racism," 30 May 2018
The mea culpa was apparently not enough for comedian Wanda Sykes, a consulting producer for Barr's show.

— Anchorage Daily News, "ABC cancels ‘Roseanne’ after star tweets racial slur," 29 May 2018
Video provided by Reuters Newslook Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's mea culpa tour continues Tuesday.

— mike snider, USA TODAY, "Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to tell European Parliament: 'I'm sorry'," 22 May 2018
The exchange feels like a mea culpa on behalf of the writers and producers of 13 Reasons Why, albeit a loaded one.

— sophie gilbert, The Atlantic, "13 Reasons Why Tries Again," 17 May 2018
Starbucks may come out of this a winner, too, if its mea culpa encourages more blacks to buy coffee at its citadel of racial justice.

— robert l. woodson sr., WSJ, "Starbucks Is Not the Next Selma," 29 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mea culpa.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Mea culpa, which means "through my fault" in Latin, comes from a prayer of confession in the Catholic Church. Said by itself, it's an exclamation of apology or remorse that is used to mean "It was my fault" or "I apologize." Mea culpa is also a noun, however. A newspaper might issue a mea culpa for printing inaccurate information, or a politician might give a speech making mea culpas for past wrongdoings. Mea culpa is one of many English terms that derive from the Latin culpa, meaning "guilt." Some other examples are culpable ("meriting condemnation or blame especially as wrong or harmful") and culprit ("one guilty of a crime or a fault").