Word · Frequency #11124
culprit
肇事者；罪魁祸首
核心释义
a person or thing responsible for a crime, problem, or wrongdoing
- 1.
对问题或罪行负有责任的人或事物。
The person or thing at fault for a problem or crime.
- 2.
肇事者
someone who perpetrates wrongdoing
对问题或罪行负有责任的人或事物。；肇事者；犯人；罪犯；刑事被告；[法] 犯罪者
用法In use
The police arrested the culprit after a long investigation.
用法提示：此处 culprit 指被逮捕的犯人，作宾语，表示实施了犯罪的人。
We still don't know who the real culprit is in this case.
用法提示：culprit 作表语，指案件的肇事者或犯罪者。
The culprit was found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison.
用法提示：culprit 作主语，指被审判的罪犯，体现了法律语境中的含义。
the culprit
定冠词搭配，特指某个罪犯或肇事者。
The culprit was finally caught after a long investigation.
经过长期调查，罪犯终于被抓获。
find/identify the culprit
动词短语，强调查找或确认犯人。
相关词与表达Connections
搭配Collocations
- main culprit
- 主要肇事者；罪魁祸首
- The main culprit was a faulty wiring connection.主要肇事者是一处有问题的电线连接。
- likely culprit
- 可能的肇事者；可疑对象
- Detectives believe the likely culprit is someone from the neighborhood.侦探认为可能的肇事者来自这个街区。
- identify the culprit
- 找出肇事者；确认罪魁祸首
- The investigation failed to identify the culprit.调查未能找出肇事者。
- catch the culprit
- 抓住肇事者；抓获罪犯
- The police finally caught the culprit after a two-week search.经过两周的搜寻，警方终于抓住了肇事者。
- real culprit
学习提示Learner notes
记忆技巧Memory Tip
记住‘the culprit’这个侦探台词：‘The culprit is you!’——手指一伸，肇事者就现身了。
语境与语域Context & Register
语域：mixed 常见场景：news reports、casual conversation、police statements “culprit” 在正式和非正式语境中都较常见；新闻、警方声明中多指“肇事者”，日常对话中也可指“造成问题的罪魁祸首”。
发音与拼写Pronunciation & Spelling
Final /prɪt/ in ‘culprit’ is also heard in ‘interpret’ and ‘misinterpret’ (both end in the unstressed syllable /prɪt/), though neither rhymes with ‘culprit’ because the stressed vowels differ. Words such as ‘spirit’ (/ˈspɪrɪt/) and ‘hypocrite’ (/ˈhɪpəkrɪt/) look similar in spelling but are pronounced with /rɪt/ or /krɪt/, not /prɪt/. ‘Brit’ (/brɪt/) shows the same final /rɪt/ sound with a different first consonant, and ‘pit’ (/pɪt/) isolates the final /ɪt/ without the /r/.
用法优先级Usage priority
Collins 词频等级为 1，建议结合例句记忆，而不是只背中文释义。
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Dictionary facts from ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.