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

In February, an NYPD administrative judge recommended that Lieutenant Jonathan Rivera be removed from the police force without benefits after finding that Rivera broke the law, violated NYPD use-of-force protocols, and lied to cover up his culpability in the 2019 killing of Allan Feliz. —Lourdes Rosado, New York Daily News, 30 Apr. 2025

The Trial explores a chillingly plausible near-future in which parents are held legally responsible for the crimes of their children, raising unsettling questions about justice, culpability, and the limits of state control. —Max Goldbart, Deadline, 12 Mar. 2025

By the final episode, Jamie's decision to change his plea to guilty forces his family to confront his culpability and their role in shaping him. —Ron Estes, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Mar. 2025

But there are challenges facing Smith that did not exist during Dawkins’ tenure and the early years of the Haase era.) — Despite what many Stanford fans believe, Muir’s culpability in the football program’s regression is far less direct. —Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 27 Feb. 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