Deserving blame; guilty or at fault, particularly in legal or moral contexts.
From Latin 'culpa' (fault, blame) with the -ose suffix (full of, characterized by). Related to 'culpable' but less commonly used in modern English.
While 'culpable' became the standard legal term, 'culpose' lingered in 18th-century writing—a reminder that legal language ruthlessly standardizes, eliminating synonyms as courts need precision.
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