Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Perpetrator \Per"pe*tra`tor\, n. [L.] One who perpetrates; esp., one who commits an offense or crime.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
literally "the one who did it" (in English usually an evil act), 1560s, from Late Latin perpetrator, agent noun of perpetrare "to perform, to accomplish" (see perpetrate). Fem. forms are perpetratress (1811, of Nero's poisoner Locusta); perpetratrix (1862, in reference to Charlotte Corday).
Wiktionary
n. One who perpetrates; especially, one who commits an offence or crime.
WordNet
n. someone who perpetrates wrongdoing [syn: culprit]
Usage examples of "perpetrator".
Quickly apprehending a perpetrator of a violent crime-rape, homicide, child abduction-is a major goal of all law enforcement agencies.
Council of Ten offered a reward of five hundred ducats to any person giving such information as would lead to the arrest of the perpetrators of the practical joke, even if the informer belonged to the band, provided he was not the leader.
I referred to the fact that foul play is suspected in the deaths of the Duval family, and our entire thaumaturgical staff has been called upon to aid in the apprehension of the perpetrators of this heinous crime.
Clearly the perpetrator had carried it away by means of a cart or wagon, the sound of whose wheels Emerson and I had heard, but I was forced to admit that without a corpus delicti my case was considerably weakened.
The perpetrators took certain precautions to prevent the mites from attaching.
The perpetrators of Munchausen by Proxy traditionally have an emotionally distant childhood, which Mariah White did not have.
Metz is alleging that you are a perpetrator of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy.
As nearly as I can remember the prime perpetrators were Don Wollheim, Johnny Michel, Bob Lowndes and myself, but we quickly acquired a couple of dozen other like-minded actifans and writer wannabees, and among them was a pudgy, acerbic fourteen-year-old from the far northern reaches of Manhattan whose name was Cyril Kornbluth.
Later it was disclosed that the perpetrators of these acts were not Anarchists, but members of the police department.
There was no doubt as to why he had been killed, or that the Raiders were his murderers, but the actual perpetrators were never discovered.
I will seize by the collar all the perpetrators, continually caught red-handed in the commission of all these outrages!
My several decades of experience in dealing with perpetrators, victims, and their families has told me that responses to horrible emotional trauma are very individual.
I make no plea for the cadet, but I fail to see why he should be mercilessly hounded, while the real perpetrators of all social iniquity enjoy immunity and respect.
For the present, their purpose accomplished, the perpetrators of the dastardly deeds recounted above now sought to make their escape.
After the second and third incidents the perpetrator probably left the area before our roadblocks were even set up, since he had six hours the first time and about five hours the next.