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YOUR VOCABULARY, ONE WORD AT A TIME

culpable

Adjective

IPA /ˈkʌlpəbl/

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Meaning in plain English

Responsible for a harmful action or failure and therefore deserving blame for what happened, rather than merely being involved.

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Pronunciation

culpable/ˈkʌlpəbl/

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  1. A manager receives repeated warnings

  2. The warnings are knowingly ignored

  3. The review shows responsibility for the harm

A culpable person deserves blame for the harmful action or failure.

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Examples in context

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  1. The damaged lock showed that our neighbour was not culpable.
  2. The review found several managers culpable for ignoring repeated safety warnings.

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The damaged lock showed that our neighbour was not ________.
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culpable — Responsible for a harmful action or failure and therefore deserving blame for what happened, rather than merely being involved.

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Responsible for a harmful action or failure and therefore deserving blame for what happened, rather than merely being involved.

Compare: The damaged lock showed that our neighbour was not culpable.

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Word origin

From Latin culpabilis, related to culpa, meaning fault or blame, through French.

Did you know?

A culpable failure is a failure serious enough to deserve blame.

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culpable

/ˈkʌlpəbl/ (Adjective)

“Culpable is formal. Use culpable for something; responsibility does not automatically mean legal guilt.”

englishskillstudio.com