Standard Lemma guide

culpability

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌkʌlpəˈbɪləti/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: K AH2 L P AH0 B IH1 L IH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The degree of one's blameworthiness in the commission of a crime or offence.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • criminal culpability
  • The investigation established his culpability in the fraud.
  • Questions of legal culpability remain unresolved.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: guiltiness, blameworthiness, culpability, guilt, noninnocence, uninnocence

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The amount of liability for a fault or wrongdoing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • degree of culpability
  • establish culpability

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a state of guilt

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: blameworthiness, culpableness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: guilt, guiltiness

History

Etymology

From Middle French culpabilité.

Across languages

Translations

20 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مَلُومِيَّة (malūmiyya) — blameworthiness
  • Arabic: تَأْثِيم (taʔṯīm) — blameworthiness
  • Czech: zavinění — blameworthiness
  • Czech: provinění — blameworthiness
  • Czech: vina — blameworthiness
  • Finnish: rangaistavuus — blameworthiness
  • Finnish: syyllisyys — blameworthiness
  • German: Schuldhaftigkeit — blameworthiness
  • German: Strafbarkeit — blameworthiness
  • Hungarian: bűnösség — blameworthiness
  • Hungarian: vétkesség — blameworthiness
  • Italian: colpevolezza — blameworthiness
  • Italian: torto — blameworthiness
  • Latin: culpa — blameworthiness
  • Middle English: blame — blameworthiness
  • Portuguese: culpabilidade — blameworthiness
  • Serbo-Croatian: krivica — blameworthiness
  • Ottoman Turkish: صوچ (suç) — blameworthiness
  • Ottoman Turkish: ذنب (zenb) — blameworthiness
  • Ukrainian: винува́тість (vynuvátistʹ) — blameworthiness