How to Use culprit in a Sentence

culprit

noun

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