blame
Americanverb (used with object)
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blames,
present (3rd person singular)
-
blamed,
past participle, past
-
blaming
present participle
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to hold responsible; find fault with; censure.
I don't blame you for leaving him.
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to place the responsibility for (a fault, error, etc.) (usually followed byon ).
I blame the accident on her.
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Informal. blast; damn (used as a mild curse).
Blame the rotten luck.
noun
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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
-
responsibility for anything deserving of censure.
We must all share the blame for this deplorable condition.
- Synonyms:
- sin, fault, culpability, guilt
idioms
noun
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responsibility for something that is wrong or deserving censure; culpability
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an expression of condemnation; reproof
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to be at fault or culpable
verb
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(usually foll by for) to attribute responsibility to; accuse
I blame him for the failure
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(usually foll by on) to ascribe responsibility for (something) to
I blame the failure on him
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to find fault with
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.
Synonym Usage
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
Derived Forms
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blamernoun
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self-blamenoun
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overblameverb (used with object)
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blamableadjective
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unblamingadjective
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blamablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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blamesimple
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blamessimple
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have blamedperfect
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has blamedperfect
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am blamingprogressive
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are blamingprogressive
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is blamingprogressive
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have been blamingperfect progressive
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has been blamingperfect progressive
Past
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blamedsimple
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had blamedperfect
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was blamingprogressive
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were blamingprogressive
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had been blamingperfect progressive
Future
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” ( see blaspheme); noun derivative of the verb
Explanation
Blame is about being responsible for something that's bad or has gone wrong. If you have a headache, you might blame it on the heat, or on not getting enough sleep. A person can be to blame for something. Your mom might walk into the house, see a broken lamp and blame you. Often, in official contexts, blame is "assigned" or "placed." A common complaint among younger siblings is, "Why do I always get blamed for everything?"
Vocabulary lists containing blame
Common Five-letter Words for Wordle, List 4
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"The Jacket"
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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.
See Examples For:
If an A.I. model goes beyond the scope of a test or accidentally breaks free of its sandbox, you can’t blame the machine for its tester’s lack of guardrails.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026
“There’s going to be a lot of narratives that appropriately put the blame on me.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Most of the blame for that lies at the feet of the 9/11 terrorists and those who supported and financed them.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026
"He recognises he is entirely to blame for his predicament," he added.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
“That way you can’t blame me for making you anemic.”
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
He blames cellphones, saying, “There’s more money being stolen with that phone than there’s ever been with a gun.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Sam blames some of the crowds at tourist hotspots on social media hype and he says he regrets going to some places just because they were popular online.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
She blames us — and her biological brother — for everything bad that happened to her.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
The company blames a power company, which was working on the warehouse’s roof, for the blaze.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
“I think you could, dear, and I think you ought. May I speak quite freely, and will you remember that it’s Mother who blames as well as Mother who sympathizes?”
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
Many also arrive with chronic jaw or facial pain and report poor sleep, all of which need assessing in their own right, he says, rather than simply being blamed on the grinding.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
But at what point should they be blamed for booting them up?
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026
Stafford blamed himself, saying, “I’ve just got to find a way to get in.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Asked what was primarily responsible, 32.6% blamed energy supplier costs and 30.2% blamed state policies.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
He also suffered from chronic headaches, which he blamed on the harsh New England weather.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
European countries are also blaming Russia for suspicious incidents on their territory.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
The former leader quit the helm with two years left of his second term in 2005, blaming poor health.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
But when he posted on Reddit about his experience, he got a different response from Bilt about the source of the problem, blaming a different banking partner.
From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2026
Many consumers are blaming data centers, though the industry says it isn’t solely to blame.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
“Why don’t they do something about it instead of spending time blaming people?”
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
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.
