If someone or their conduct is culpable, they are responsible for something wrong or bad that has happened.
[formal]
Their decision to do nothing makes them culpable.
...manslaughter resulting from culpable negligence.
Synonyms: blameworthy, wrong, guilty, to blame More Synonyms of culpable
culpability (kʌlpəbɪlɪti)uncountable noun
He added there was clear culpability on the part of the government.
Synonyms: fault, blameworthiness, blame, responsibility More Synonyms of culpable
culpable in British English
(ˈkʌlpəbəl)
adjective
deserving censure; blameworthy
Derived forms
culpability (ˌculpaˈbility) or culpableness (ˈculpableness)
noun
culpably (ˈculpably)
adverb
Word origin
C14: from Old French coupable, from Latin culpābilis, from culpāre to blame, from culpa fault
culpable in American English
(ˈkʌlpəbəl)
adjective
deserving blame; blameworthy
Derived forms
culpability (ˌculpaˈbility) (ˈkʌlpəˈbɪləti)
noun
culpably (ˈculpably) (ˈkʌlpəbli)
adverb
Word origin
altered, modeled on L < ME coupable < OFr < L culpabilis < culpa, crime, fault, blame
Examples of 'culpable' in a sentence
culpable
Other racecourse owners are sometimes equally culpable.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Some suggested business schools might be partly culpable.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The attempts to suggest that the government was culpable are dangerous.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
But there are many others who are equally culpable.
The Sun (2015)
If some of those who followed were slightly less culpable it was largely because the game was well and truly up.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The coroner all but accused the Government of sending a man to his death by culpable negligence.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
He appears no less culpable for this, but all the more tragically human.
The Times Literary Supplement (2011)
Anything else is culpable negligence.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
This past winter, lumbered with a poor side, he was arguably less culpable.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
His political position is clear: capitalism is an oppressive system and the constituents of the organizational bloc that wields political power are all equally culpable.
Lee Harvey Critical Social Research (1990)
From a human angle, that might make them less culpable, and so less immoral.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
It was a problematic message and the police were swift to say that they didn't want to imply that women were partly culpable if they were attacked.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
If that doesn't quite amount to an intention to offend, it does amount to culpable negligence in avoiding pointless offence.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
(adjective)
Definition
deserving blame
Their decision to do nothing makes them culpable.
Synonyms
blameworthy
wrong
It was wrong of you to disrespect her.
guilty
They were found guilty of fraud.
The guilty pair were caught red-handed.
to blame
Who is to blame here?
liable
in the wrong
He didn't argue because he knew he was in the wrong.
at fault
She didn't accept that she was at fault.
sinful
answerable
found wanting
reprehensible
behaving in the most reprehensible manner
blamable
censurable
Opposites
innocent
,
not guilty
,
in the clear
,
squeaky-clean
,
blameless
,
guiltless
,
clean (slang)
Additional synonyms
in the sense of at fault
Definition
to be to blame for something wrong
She didn't accept that she was at fault.
Synonyms
guilty,
responsible,
to blame,
accountable,
in the wrong,
culpable,
answerable,
blamable
in the sense of blamable
Synonyms
responsible,
guilty,
liable,
faulty,
in the wrong,
at fault,
culpable,
answerable,
reprehensible,
blameworthy,
reproachable,
deserving of censure,
reprovable
in the sense of guilty
Definition
responsible for doing something wrong
They were found guilty of fraud.The guilty pair were caught red-handed.