[noun] [C] - someone who has done something wrongPolice hope the public will help them to find the culprits.(humorous) Someone's eaten my piece of cake - which of you is the culprit?(figurative) Children in this country are getting much too fat, and sugar and sweets are the main culprits (= the bad things that are causing this).
CULPRIT
Meaning of CULPRIT in English
Cambridge English vocab. Кембриджский английский словарь. 2012