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Glite Dictionary
mea culpa

mea culpa

11 8.5
A statement saying you are sorry for a mistake
  • noun
  • /ˈmeɪə ˈkʌlpə/
  • Formal
translation icon : admisión de culpa
  • After making a mistake in the report, she issued a formal mea culpa to her colleagues.
  • offered a mea culpa
  • give a mea culpa
  • issued a mea culpa

It was just get eyeballs and we Full disclosure and, and mea culpa, when Trayvon Martin happened, that story caught on.

Examples

  • The politician's mea culpa won back some public trust after the scandal.

  • Even Dick Morris offered a mea culpa for his outlandish assurances of a Romney landslide.

    Blog text (29)

  • Like mea culpas are really powerful and really important and they can win back trust.

  • All right, mea culpa, what do you want of me?

    The Quiet American (1958)

  • What I love about mea culpa is you have insight into all of these issues that nobody else has.

  • My dad has a fundraiser and I have to give a business partner a mea culpa for the meeting I missed.

    Bound (2015)

  • Now that you've made an appropriate mea culpa, it's time to back up and show your real advantages.

    Blog text (9)

  • Then that's a mea culpa on my part for not proofreading well enough.

    Blog text (9)

  • Many letters were self-serving justifications; some acknowledged an element of mea culpa, and all promised that things would improve.

    Academic text (1993)

  • But Esterhazy's theatrical confession to Wilde was not his only mea culpa.

    Academic text (2011)

Synonyms

apology
vsmea culpa
671 1.0

A statement saying sorry for hurting or upsetting someone

focuses on admitting fault rather than expressing regret alone
confession
vsmea culpa
335 3.4

A statement admitting you did something wrong, often to the police

is a general admission of error, not necessarily a legal or criminal claim
my bad
vsmea culpa
  • Informal
47 8.4

A short casual phrase to admit you made a mistake

is a neutral admission of fault, not limited to casual speech

Antonyms

denial
61 2.8

Refusing a request or saying something is not true

How Strong

confession
335 3.4
mea culpa
  • Formal
11 8.5
admission
117 3.8
acknowledgment
  • US
11 3.7

Surface Forms

mea culpa singular
mea culpas plural

Morphology

mea + culpa

The phrase literally combines Latin mea ('my') and culpa ('fault'), so if a learner knows the constituent meanings they can directly infer 'my fault' and thus an admission of responsibility. Although it's a Latin loan and may be stylistically marked, the overall meaning is compositional and predictable from the parts.

Etymology

Mea culpa comes from Latin: mea means 'my' and culpa means 'fault'. In old church services people would beat their chest and say 'mea culpa' to admit a sin, so today mea culpa is used to mean 'an admission of fault'.