finger-pointing

American  

[fing-ger-poin-ting] / ˈfɪŋ gərˌpɔɪn tɪŋ /

noun

1. the imputation of blame or responsibility.

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Explanation

Blaming someone for a problem is finger-pointing. If none of your friends will take responsibility for breaking the neighbor's window with their baseball, there may be a lot of finger-pointing. Finger-pointing can simply mean assigning blame to the guilty party, but it can also be a way of avoiding responsibility. If there's a large group of people at your house and someone accidentally lets the cat out, making your sister angry, there will very likely be some finger-pointing: "Tom kept leaving the door open!" You don't have to literally point at a person to be engaged in figurative finger-pointing, but it might be tempting when you say, "She did it!"

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

finger-pointing

Years of delays for the SkyLink people mover at LAX have led to finger-pointing, litigation and a grand jury probe into how a $1.9-billion project has become a $3.3-billion boondoggle.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026

Other unions have been decidedly cool to the measure, leading to a nasty outbreak of finger-pointing within the state’s organized labor ranks, as my colleagues Seema Mehta, Nicole Nixon and Taryn Luna reported.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

Frustration over the stalled case set off finger-pointing by Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel, who had early on promised to lead the charge but has since gone largely silent.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

The scale of the crisis has sparked a massive game of corporate finger-pointing.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

Amidst the recriminations and finger-pointing from the doctors, scientists, and prison officials, one might have expected the demise of electrocution technology.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

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