Word · Frequency #11124
culprit
肇事者；罪魁祸首
a person or thing responsible for a crime, problem, or wrongdoing
- 1.
The person or thing at fault for a problem or crime.
对问题或罪行负有责任的人或事物。
- 2.
someone who perpetrates wrongdoing
肇事者
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
In use
The police arrested the culprit after a long investigation.
We still don't know who the real culprit is in this case.
The culprit was found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison.
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。
The police are trying to identify the culprit who broke into the store.
警方正试图找出闯入商店的罪犯。
the culprit behind sth
比喻用法，表示某事的起因或根源。
Connections
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
- 真正的罪魁祸首；真正的肇事者
- Everyone blamed the manager, but the real culprit was the outdated software.大家都怪罪经理，但真正的罪魁祸首是过时的软件。
Learner notes
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。
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”。
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/.
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。
Learn the forms together
页面下方列出了常见词形变化。学习时注意它们在句子中的语法位置。
Dictionary facts from ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.