culpability

noun

cul·​pa·​bil·​i·​ty ˌkəl-pə-ˈbi-lə-tē 

: responsibility for wrongdoing or failure : the quality or state of being culpable

moral/legal/criminal culpability

He refuses to acknowledge his own culpability.

Culpability for our failure to reduce petroleum imports falls across the political spectrum.

—Gregg Easterbrook

Synonyms

• blame
• fault
• guilt
• onus
• rap

Examples of culpability in a Sentence

cannot find culpability where there is neither knowledge that a crime has been committed nor evidence of intent to commit a crime

Recent Examples on the Web

The new law reduced the culpability of defendants who didn't actually do the killing and didn't intend for anyone to die, like a getaway driver in a robbery gone wrong. —Gayane Keshishyan Mendez, CBS News, 14 Feb. 2025

The detail and culpability are less important than the consequences. —Sebastian Stafford-Bloor, The Athletic, 23 Jan. 2025

Agriculture producers – who use about 94% of the water pulled from the Aquifer – have some culpability in the problem, Peterson said. —Daniel Desrochers, Kansas City Star, 16 Jan. 2025

Even in reaching past settlements over the years, News UK has never admitted culpability for criminal activity by The Sun. —David Folkenflik, NPR, 21 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1652, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for culpability

• affability
• audibility
• bistability
• capability
• changeability
• contractility
• credibility
• disability
• disutility
• durability
• fallibility
• feasibility