adjective
Usage
What does blameful mean? Blameful is used to describe someone or something that deserves to be blamed for something negative that has happenedThe word blameworthy means the same thing and is more commonly used. To blame someone for something is to accuse them of having caused it or to hold them responsible for it. The word blame is always used in the context of something bad that happened—you don’t blame someone for something good. However, when someone is blamed for something, it doesn’t mean they are guilty of it—it simply means they are being accused of being guilty of it. The word blame can also be used as a noun referring to the responsibility for something negative that happened. This is how the word is used in the phrase assign blame. As a noun, blame can also mean the disapproval, condemnation, or criticism for something bad that happened, as in He deserves most of the blame for the loss. Calling a person blameful indicates the belief that they are responsible for what happened and that they should receive the criticism for having caused it. Sometimes, people use blameful to describe someone who frequently blames others for things, but this sense of the word has largely fallen out of use. Example: Those who participated in the fraud should be held responsible, but those who knew about it and did nothing are also blameful.
Other Word Forms
- blamefully adverb
- blamefulness noun
- nonblameful adjective
- nonblamefully adverb
- nonblamefulness noun
Etymology
Origin of blameful
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The crime was producing coverage considered tawdry, overblown and blameful of the victim.
From New York Times • Sep. 1, 2016
Fate is the conjurer that commands them all to appear, but it is the blameful black magic of repression that sets them free to destroy.
From Time Magazine Archive
My life is ashamed and broken and blameful— The broken and blameful, oh, cleanse and gather!
From The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2 by MacDonald, George
I could not have slept if a king's ransom went with the sleeping; and so I lay fretful, blameful, scolding myself, condoling with myself, vowing the whole problem a plague and a cheat.
From The Iron Pirate A Plain Tale of Strange Happenings on the Sea by Pemberton, Max, Sir
In a blameful strength I seiz'd thy hand, to scare thee, as of old Dryads were scared; and calm and icy-cold Thine answer came: "I pray thee, vex me not!"
From A Lover's Litanies by Mackay, Eric
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
