Noun

(en noun)

A person who commits murder.

*1886 , (Robert Louis Stevenson), (Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde)

*:It was two o'clock when she came to herself and called for the police. The murderer was gone long ago; but there lay his victim in the middle of the lane, incredibly mangled. The stick with which the deed had been done, although it was of some rare and very tough and heavy wood, had broken in the middle under the stress of this insensate cruelty

*

*:I had never defrauded a man of a farthing, nor called him knave behind his back. But now the last rag that covered my nakedness had been torn from me. I was branded a blackleg, card-sharper, and murderer .

Noun

(en noun)

The person or thing at fault for a problem or crime.

I tightened the loose bolt that was the culprit ; it should work now.

* {{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=June 9 , author=Owen Phillips , title=Euro 2012: Netherlands 0-1 Denmark , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=But the Dutch dominated only to waste numerous efforts, with Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie the main culprits .}}