How to Use culprit in a Sentence
culprit
noun- The police eventually located the culprits.
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The defense in the case was to make Michelle a culprit here.
—Tracy Smith, CBS News, 11 Feb. 2023
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In the case of the Atlanta, stormy weather was the culprit.
—Mac Stone, Discover Magazine, 13 Mar. 2023
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The culprit is a weak cold front that is passing the area this evening.
—Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 7 Nov. 2023
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In the case of With a Vengeance, the ending and the culprit that’s there now was not the culprit in the first draft.
—Lexy Perez, HollywoodReporter, 10 June 2025
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How to Treat It: If clothing is the culprit, loosen up the fit.
—Jennifer G. Sullivan, Allure, 30 Jan. 2023
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The culprit is a not-so-scary cold front that will move across the South over the weekend.
—Jennifer Gray, CNN, 26 Oct. 2022
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Coal, oil, and gas are the main culprits of climate change.
—Christopher Merchant, WIRED, 17 Aug. 2024
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The use of pesticides and the loss of habitat and food sources are the main culprits.
—Erica Browne Grivas, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Feb. 2025
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Capsaicin is the culprit of the spicy heat in hot peppers.
—Anthea Levi, Health, 30 Mar. 2024
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The culprit is the frequency and nature of the snacking.
—Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 June 2023
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If the scales are imbalanced both times, the ball that stayed still is the culprit.
—Katie McCormick, Quanta Magazine, 16 Nov. 2021
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If the crust is on a ceiling, a roof leak is often the culprit.
—Washington Post, 27 Dec. 2021
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The culprit fled and appears to have remained on the loose over the weekend.
—Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, 4 Aug. 2025
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The owner wished to pursue charges if the culprit was found.
—cleveland, 29 Dec. 2022
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Jealousy or envy may be the culprit as the moon and Venus clash.
—USA TODAY, 14 May 2024
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The culprit came and left in the dead of night, leaving no trace by footprint or film.
—Jamie Landers, Dallas News, 14 Mar. 2023
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To try to figure out why this might be, a group of researchers looked to find the culprit.
—Katie Jennings, Forbes, 10 Nov. 2021
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The main culprit was the rapid rise in natural gas prices.
—Diego Mendoza-Moyers, San Antonio Express-News, 25 Apr. 2022
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The main culprits are development and a lack of the fire that scrub needs to thrive.
—Ryan Ballogg, Orlando Sentinel, 5 July 2024
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At the time, health officials couldn’t tell which of these food items was the culprit.
—Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes, 22 Oct. 2021
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The culprit was a gas explosion, and the street remains closed to this day.
—Louise Dewast, Christian Science Monitor, 20 June 2025
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The mess in the schools, with new closings happening, has to be a culprit.
—Dean Obeidallah, The New Republic, 13 Jan. 2022
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For the first time in years, the top of the list was taken by Afghanistan, rather than the usual culprit, North Korea.
—Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab, Forbes, 20 Jan. 2022
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First, a bit of myth-busting: Turkey is not the culprit.
—Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 23 Nov. 2022
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The culprit was likely tara flour—yet the FDA did not ban it until 2024.
—Alana Semuels, TIME, 3 Feb. 2025
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As is all too often the case in life, the culprit—the villain—is the obvious one.
—Lauren Puckett-Pope, ELLE, 23 Dec. 2022
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The most obvious culprit of a stinky fridge is spoiled food.
—Halee Miller Van Ryswyk, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Sep. 2024
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To many observers, the culprit for this outcome is clear.
—Sean Gregory, Time, 28 Apr. 2022
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On the goods side, higher food prices were the biggest culprit behind a 0.7% monthly increase.
—Alicia Wallace, CNN Money, 14 Aug. 2025
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'culprit.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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