Culprit
Culprit noun - A person who has committed a crime.
Usage example: the police caught the culprit a mere two blocks from the scene of the crime
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Synonyms for Culprit
Suspect
Suspect noun - Someone who is under suspicion.
Culprit and suspect are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Culprit" instead a noun "Suspect".
Nearby Words: suspected, suspecting
How words are described
| female | female culprit | female suspect |
| prime | prime culprit | prime suspect |
| particular | particular culprit | particular suspect |
| usual | usual culprit | usual suspect |
| Other adjectives: right, original, many, true, likely, obvious, actual, real, wrong, potential, main, major, chief, possible, former, final, plausible, primary, unidentified, biggest. | ||
Both words in one sentence
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Discovering the culprit becomes an interesting puzzle instead of the detective simply finding the number one suspect and arresting him.
Source: Never The Obvious Suspect -
In Boris Akunin's Seagull, not only Everyone Is a Suspect, but there's also an alternate ending for each suspect to be the culprit.
Source: Everyone Is a Suspect - The obvious suspect functions as a Red Herring, and the story often culminates with The Summation, where the unexpected culprit and the reason why he commited the crime are revealed.
Source: Never The Obvious Suspect
Cite this Source
Suspect and Culprit. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 27, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/culprit/suspect
Culprit & Suspect. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/culprit/suspect>.
Suspect or Culprit. 2016. Accessed July 27, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/culprit/suspect.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "culprit" and "suspect" have occurred on timeline