culpable

C3U1L1P3A1B3L1E1
Canada, US, UK/ˈkʌlpəbəl/Midlands, Northern England/ˈkʊlpəbəl/Australia, New Zealand/ˈkɐlpəbəl/

adjective

Meriting condemnation, censure or blame, especially as something wrong, harmful or injurious; blameworthy, guilty.

“I am culpable for stealing your money.”

Similar
at faultto blameblameworthycensurableguiltynocentreprehensibleblamable
OriginMiddle English culpable ← Old French culpable ← Latin culpābilis →
UncommonScrabble 14
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

adjectiveculpable (comparative more culpable, superlative most culpable)

comparative more culpable · superlative most culpable

  1. Meriting condemnation, censure or blame, especially as something wrong, harmful or injurious; blameworthy, guilty.

    I am culpable for stealing your money.

    1 more example

    It would be […] impossible to list all the reasons why one might keep their sexuality hidden, and by no means is it culpable for a person to fear for their job or their family's esteem

    1971, Nancy Walker, “Out Of The Closet And Into The World”, in Body Politic, number 1, page 13

    Synonyms: at fault, to blame, at fault, blameworthy, censurable, guilty, nocent, reprehensible

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveMeriting condemnation, censure or blame, especially as something wrong, harmful or injurious; blameworthy, guilty.

Similar
at faultto blameat faultblameworthycensurableguiltynocentreprehensibleto blame

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivedeserving blame or censure as being wrong or evil or injurious

Similar
blameworthyblamableblameableblamefulcensurableguilty
Also see
blamableblamefulblameworthycensurablecriminalguiltynocentremissreprehensibleto blameunjustifiable

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinculpābilis“blameworthy”
  2. Old Frenchculpable
  3. Middle Englishculpable
  4. Englishculpable

From Middle English culpable, from Old French culpable, from Latin culpābilis (“blameworthy”), from culpō (“to blame, condemn”), from culpa (“a fault, crime, mistake”). Compare also culprit.

More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic مُذْنِب, مُخْطِئ
  • مُذْنِب (muḏnib)blameworthy
  • مُخْطِئ (muḵṭiʔ)blameworthy
  • مَلُوم (malūm)blameworthy
Bulgarian виновен
  • виновен (vinoven)blameworthy
Catalan culpable
  • culpableblameworthy
Danish ansvarlig, fordømmelig
  • ansvarligblameworthy
  • fordømmeligblameworthy
  • skyldigblameworthy
Dutch verwijtbaar, schuldig
  • verwijtbaarblameworthy
  • schuldigblameworthy
Esperanto kulpa
  • kulpablameworthy
Finnish syyllinen, moitittava
  • syyllinenblameworthy
  • moitittavablameworthy
French coupable
  • coupableblameworthy
German verdammenswert, schuldig
  • verdammenswertblameworthy
  • schuldigblameworthy
  • strafbarblameworthy
  • verdammungswürdigblameworthy
Latin culpandus
  • culpandusblameworthy
Persian مقصر
  • مقصر (moqasser)blameworthy
Portuguese culpável
  • culpávelblameworthy
Romanian culpabil
  • culpabilblameworthy
Russian вино́вный, винова́тый
  • вино́вный (vinóvnyj)blameworthy
  • винова́тый (vinovátyj)blameworthy
Spanish culpable
  • culpableblameworthy
Turkish kabahatli, kusurlu
  • kabahatliblameworthy
  • kusurlublameworthy
  • suçlublameworthy
Cite this entry
APA

culpable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/culpable

MLA

“culpable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/culpable. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “culpable,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/culpable.

Source: culpable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.