{
    "term": "culprit",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "a person who has done something wrong or against the law",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The police quickly identified the real culprits."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Police hunting the culprits have condemned the attack."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["big", "chief", "main"],
                "verb + culprit": ["hunt", "hunt for", "apprehend"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "a person or thing responsible for causing a problem",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The main culprit in the current crisis seems to be modern farming techniques."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Keep the kitchen clear of all sources of bacteria, not forgetting the biggest culprit of all—the dishcloth."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["big", "chief", "main"],
                "verb + culprit": ["hunt", "hunt for", "apprehend"]
            }
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈkʌlprɪt/",
                "audio": "cu/culprit/culprit__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈkʌlprɪt/",
                "audio": "cu/culprit/culprit__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "late 17th cent. (originally in the formula Culprit, how will you be tried?, said by the Clerk of the Crown to a prisoner pleading not guilty): perhaps from a misinterpretation of the written abbreviation cul. prist for Anglo-Norman French Culpable: prest d'averrer notre bille ‘(You are) guilty: (We are) ready to prove our indictment’; in later use influenced by Latin culpa ‘fault, blame’."
}