as in offender
a person who has committed a crime
the police caught the culprit a mere two blocks from the scene of the crime
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Recent Examples of culprit
In the retrial, Judge Beverly Cannone ruled that the defense could not use Albert as part of its third-party culprit defense.
—
Matt Schooley, CBS News, 18 June 2026
Again, cardiovascular disease was the top culprit, but ALAN also triggers inflammation and is associated with higher rates of cancer, Parkinson’s, and cognitive impairment, including Alzheimer’s.
—Literary Hub, 17 June 2026
Blue Origin has not said anything publicly, but multiple sources have pointed to an issue with the BE-4 rocket engine that powers the first stage of New Glenn as the culprit behind the launch pad accident.
—Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 16 June 2026
Fulda all but ditches his ambitious partner Chaton (Vincent Dedienne), in order to team up with Stéphane to get to the bottom of the endless pig-slaughter, and to put paid to the local superstition that Brun’s ghost may be the culprit.
—Jessica Kiang, Variety, 16 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for culprit
Matt Schooley, CBS News, 18 June 2026
Again, cardiovascular disease was the top culprit, but ALAN also triggers inflammation and is associated with higher rates of cancer, Parkinson’s, and cognitive impairment, including Alzheimer’s.
—Literary Hub, 17 June 2026
Blue Origin has not said anything publicly, but multiple sources have pointed to an issue with the BE-4 rocket engine that powers the first stage of New Glenn as the culprit behind the launch pad accident.
—Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 16 June 2026
Fulda all but ditches his ambitious partner Chaton (Vincent Dedienne), in order to team up with Stéphane to get to the bottom of the endless pig-slaughter, and to put paid to the local superstition that Brun’s ghost may be the culprit.
—Jessica Kiang, Variety, 16 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for culprit
Recent Examples of Synonyms for culprit
Noun
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The offender is described as an African-American man between 40-45 years of age, weighing 180-200 pounds, and was last seen wearing a gray/black baseball cap, a light blue shirt, gray pants, and black gym shoes.—
Jeramie Bizzle,
CBS News,
22 June 2026
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To better understand what drives a young person to commit these crimes, CNN spent months searching for prior offenders willing to speak about their experience.—
Hanako Montgomery,
CNN Money,
22 June 2026
Noun
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This makes your accounts much harder to break into, even if a criminal gets control of your phone number.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
19 June 2026
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And historically, denaturalization has been reserved for the most egregious offenders, such as human rights abusers and violent criminals.—
Camilo Montoya-Galvez,
CBS News,
18 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Culprit.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/culprit. Accessed 23 Jun. 2026.
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