blame

American  

[bleym] / bleɪm /

verb (used with object)

blamed, blaming

1. to hold responsible; find fault with; censure.

   I don't blame you for leaving him.

   Synonyms:

   criticize, reprehend, reprove, reproach

2. to place the responsibility for (a fault, error, etc.) (usually followed byon ).

   I blame the accident on her.

   Synonyms:

   criticize, reprehend, reprove, reproach

3. Informal. blast; damn (used as a mild curse).

   Blame the rotten luck.

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noun

1. an act of attributing fault; censure; reproof.

   The judge said he found nothing to justify blame in the accident.

   Synonyms:

   animadversion, reproach, stricture, condemnation, reprehension

2. responsibility for anything deserving of censure.

   We must all share the blame for this deplorable condition.

   Synonyms:

   sin, fault, culpability, guilt

idioms

1. to blame, at fault; censurable.

   I am to blame for his lateness.

blame British  

/ bleɪm /

noun

1. responsibility for something that is wrong or deserving censure; culpability

2. an expression of condemnation; reproof

3. to be at fault or culpable

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verb

1. (usually foll by for) to attribute responsibility to; accuse

   I blame him for the failure

2. (usually foll by on) to ascribe responsibility for (something) to

   I blame the failure on him

3. to find fault with

blame More Idioms  

1. see lay (the blame) on; to blame.

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Usage

Some speakers avoid blame on as informal ( He blamed the fight on me ), preferring blame alone ( He blamed me ) or blame for ( He blamed me for it ). Since all three forms occur with equal frequency in educated usage, they may all be considered equally acceptable.

Related Words

Blame, censure, condemn imply finding fault with someone or something. To blame is to hold accountable for, and disapprove because of, some error, mistake, omission, neglect, or the like: Whom do you blame for the disaster? The verb censure differs from the noun in connoting scolding or rebuking even more than adverse criticism: to censure one for extravagance. To condemn is to express an adverse (especially legal) judgment, without recourse: to condemn conduct, a building, a person to death.

Other Word Forms

• blamable adjective
• blamably adverb
• blamer noun
• overblame verb (used with object)
• self-blame noun
• unblaming adjective

Etymology

Origin of blame

First recorded in 1150–1200; (for the verb) Middle English blamen, from Anglo-French, Old French blasmer, from Vulgar Latin blastēmāre (unrecorded), from Late Latin blasphēmāre “to speak irreverently, profanely” ( blaspheme ); noun derivative of the verb

Example Sentences

The price of beef in China has trended downwards in recent years, with analysts blaming oversupply and a lack of demand as the world's second-largest economy has slowed.

From Barron's

Washington blamed the attack on a lone IS gunman in Syria's Palmyra.

From Barron's

“I have been blamed and shamed,” she said elsewhere in that 2023 interview, “and I blamed and shamed myself.”

From Los Angeles Times

The operator blamed the travel chaos on "a problem with the overhead power supply in the Channel Tunnel and a subsequent failed Le Shuttle train".

From Barron's

Despite having no money to hire a lawyer, he refused: “I wasn’t going to take the blame for something I didn’t do.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• accountability
• burden
• culpability
• fault
• guilt
• liability
• onus