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
JPMorgan thinks something else may be the culprit — and if the bank’s assessment is right, there may be a silver lining to the current sell-off.
—
Yeo Boon Ping, CNBC, 14 Mar. 2025
The culprit behind the fire was a fuel leak of undetermined origin that began about 85 seconds after liftoff.
—Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel, 13 Mar. 2025
This intro slyly combines the butterflies of first-date jitters with setups for a number of potential culprits (and of course, red herrings) for when Violet is eventually tormented over the digital airwaves.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 10 Mar. 2025
However, Balaji and colleagues have mostly ruled out axions and axion-like particles as their dark matter culprits linked to the ionization of gas in the CMZ.
—Robert Lea, Space.com, 10 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for culprit
Yeo Boon Ping, CNBC, 14 Mar. 2025
The culprit behind the fire was a fuel leak of undetermined origin that began about 85 seconds after liftoff.
—Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel, 13 Mar. 2025
This intro slyly combines the butterflies of first-date jitters with setups for a number of potential culprits (and of course, red herrings) for when Violet is eventually tormented over the digital airwaves.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 10 Mar. 2025
However, Balaji and colleagues have mostly ruled out axions and axion-like particles as their dark matter culprits linked to the ionization of gas in the CMZ.
—Robert Lea, Space.com, 10 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for culprit
Cite this Entry
“Culprit.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/culprit. Accessed 30 Mar. 2025.
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