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culpa

culpa

15 9.9
Blame for doing something wrong, often in a legal context
  • noun
  • /ˈkʌlpə/
  • Formal
translation icon : culpa
  • Even Dick Morris offered a mea culpa for his outlandish assurances of a Romney landslide.
  • mea culpa

Make yourself clear, have mea culpas, be human, apologize, speak and say when something doesn't feel right.

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Examples

  • If departments want to hold on to students, they should foster the "mea culpa" approach and change their attitude and way of teaching.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Many letters were self-serving justifications; some acknowledged an element of mea culpa, and all promised that things would improve.

    Academic text (1993)
  • All right, mea culpa, what do you want of me?

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

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

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

    Blog text (9)
  • MEA CULPA: Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt eventually admitted he was partially to blame for the mess.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Ravitch has reversed her ideas on all three fronts in this mea culpa explanation and defense of a position shift.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Can we count on you for a public mea culpa when/if this doesn't come true?

    Blog text (33)
  • After an investigation, the manager took full culpa for the project's failure.

Synonyms

responsibility
vsculpa
2.7

A duty to do something and answer for what you do

is specific to blame in legal or formal wrongdoing contexts
fault
vsculpa
1.8

A mistake or personal weakness that causes people to blame someone

focuses more on formal legal responsibility than a simple mistake
blame
vsculpa
359 1.0

Responsibility for a fault or bad situation

is framed more as a formal legal or technical concept
accountability
vsculpa
198 6.1

Being responsible for your actions and having to explain them to other people

is narrower, highlighting blame rather than the duty to explain
liability
vsculpa
  • Specialized
176 5.1

A legal responsibility to pay money for damage

covers blame or responsibility in law beyond financial duties
culpability
vsculpa
20 8.3

Being responsible for a fault or doing something wrong

is the general term for blame or responsibility in formal contexts
blameworthiness
vsculpa
1 7.6

A quality of being at fault for something wrong

is used as the broader legal label for that deserving state
culpableness
vsculpa
9.0

Being at fault for doing something wrong

is the legal idea of blame rather than general duty

Antonyms

35 3.6

Being free from doing wrong or evil things

exoneration
  • Formal
10 7.9

An official clearing of a person from blame after being accused

Compounds

mea culpa
  • Formal
11 8.5

A statement saying you are sorry for a mistake

How Blameworthy

guilt
375 2.4
culpa
  • Formal
15 9.9
fault
1.8
responsibility
2.7

Surface Forms

culpa singular
culpas plural

Etymology

Culpa comes from the Latin culpa, meaning 'fault' or 'blame', and you can see the same root in English words like culprit and culpable. So culpa today means being at fault or having responsibility for something wrong, especially in legal contexts.