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mea culpa

noun
mea cul·​pa | \ ˌmā-ə-ˈku̇l-pə How to pronounce mea culpa (audio) , ˌmā-ä-, -ˈku̇l-(ˌ)pä\

Definition of mea culpa

: a formal acknowledgment of personal fault or error The mayor's public mea culpa didn't satisfy his critics.
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Did You Know?

Mea culpa, which means "through my fault" in Latin, comes from a prayer of confession in the Catholic Church. Said by itself, it's an exclamation of apology or remorse that is used to mean "It was my fault" or "I apologize." Mea culpa is also a noun, however. A newspaper might issue a mea culpa for printing inaccurate information, or a politician might give a speech making mea culpas for past wrongdoings. Mea culpa is one of many English terms that derive from the Latin culpa, meaning "guilt." Some other examples are culpable ("meriting condemnation or blame especially as wrong or harmful") and culprit ("one guilty of a crime or a fault").

Examples of mea culpa in a Sentence

The mayor's public mea culpa didn't satisfy his critics.

Recent Examples on the Web

 Hannah Beast was instead issuing her official mea culpa for keeping Luke Parker, season 15’s bona fide villain, around for 10 weeks of her Bachelorette season. — Ariana Romero, refinery29.com, "Hannah Finally Gave A Full Explanation For The Luke P. Fiasco On Bachelorette “Men Tell All”," 25 July 2019 That is the mea culpa that employers voice when accused of lacking empathy for out-of-work Americans. — Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, "The Selfish Actors of Illegal Immigration," 16 July 2019 At the end of April, Impossible issued a mea culpa to customers, acknowledging a shortage. — CNN, "Impossible made fake meat a hot commodity. Now it could be a victim of its own success," 27 June 2019 On Friday, leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention released a 52-page report about abuse in the denomination, including survivors' stories and mea culpas about mistakes church leaders have made. — Daniel Burke, CNN, "Southern Baptists approve measure to remove churches over clergy abuse," 12 June 2019 But fuller restitution came in December 2018, when Dunham guest-edited the Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment issue and included in it a 1,400-word mea culpa. — Mattie Kahn, Glamour, "Aurora Perrineau Wanted to Be Known as an Actor. Instead, Her Name Got Dragged Into Scandal," 21 May 2019 Facebook’s bad news cycle doesn’t appear to be coming to an end anytime soon, despite the mea culpa commercials. — Daisuke Wakabayashi, New York Times, "The Week in Tech: Facebook Is Disinvited From July Fourth Barbecues," 6 July 2018 The latter led to an almost immediate mea culpa, and a vow to never tweet again. — Sasha Savitsky, Fox News, "Roseanne Barr quits Twitter after offending with statements about former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, Chelsea Clinton," 29 May 2018 And now the Saudis will have to stomach global scrutiny that will be critical of too many all-is-fine smiles from attendees or too few mea culpas from government officials. — Theodore Schleifer, Recode, "On the eve of the Saudi economic summit, we’re about to see just how damaged they are in Silicon Valley," 23 Oct. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mea culpa.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of mea culpa

1602, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for mea culpa

Latin, through my fault

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More Definitions for mea culpa

mea culpa

noun
How to pronounce mea culpa (audio)

English Language Learners Definition of mea culpa

: a statement in which you say that something is your fault

See the full definition for mea culpa in the English Language Learners Dictionary

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