Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To consider responsible for a misdeed, failure, or undesirable outcome.
- transitive verb To find fault with; criticize.
- transitive verb To place responsibility for (something).
- noun The state of being responsible for a fault or error; culpability.
- noun Censure; condemnation.
- idiom (to blame) Deserving censure or disapproval; at fault.
- idiom (to blame) Being the cause or source of something.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To express disapprobation of; find fault with; censure: opposed to praise or commend.
- Formerly it might be followed by of.
- To charge; impute as a fault; lay the responsibility of: as, he blames the failure on you.
- To bring reproach upon; blemish; injure.
- [In such phrases as he is to blame, to blame, by an old and common construction, has the passive meaning ‘to be blamed, blamable.’ Compare a house to let, hire, build; grain ready to cut, etc.
- In writers of the Elizabethan period it was often written too blame, blame apparently being mistaken for an adjective.] Synonyms To reprove, reproach, chide, upbraid, reprehend. See
decry . - noun An expression of disapproval of something deemed to be wrong; imputation of a fault; censure; reprehension.
- noun That which is deserving of censure or disapprobation; fault; crime; sin.
- noun Culpability; responsibility for something that is wrong: as, the blame is yours.
- noun Hurt; injury.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To censure; to express disapprobation of; to find fault with; to reproach.
- transitive verb obsolete To bring reproach upon; to blemish.
- transitive verb to be blamed, or deserving blame; in fault; as, the conductor was
to blame for the accident. - noun An expression of disapprobation fir something deemed to be wrong; imputation of fault; censure.
- noun That which is deserving of censure or disapprobation; culpability; fault; crime; sin.
- noun obsolete Hurt; injury.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
Censure . - noun
Culpability for somethingnegative orundesirable . - noun
Responsibility for something meriting censure. - verb To
censure (someone or something); tocriticize . - verb obsolete To bring into
disrepute . - verb transitive, usually followed by "for" To
assert orconsider that someone is the cause of something negative; to place blame, to attributeresponsibility (for something negative or for doing something negative).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb harass with constant criticism
- verb put or pin the blame on
- verb attribute responsibility to
- noun a reproach for some lapse or misdeed
- noun an accusation that you are responsible for some lapse or misdeed
- adjective expletives used informally as intensifiers
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word blame.
Examples
-
Now those boys were not wholly to blame for what they were doing; but their fathers and mothers were _very much to blame_!
Our Vanishing Wild Life Its Extermination and Preservation William Temple Hornaday 1895
-
We the American people know where the blame is and we say yes while all the GOP can do is whine and say NO.
-
Jeff Miron: But I do not use the word "blame," since that implies they are doing something harmful or inappropriate.
-
I should have understood — the blame is all mine — I should have known you did not love me, I should have been filled with anger and shame instead of happiness.
-
Jeff Miron: But I do not use the word "blame," since that implies they are doing something harmful or inappropriate.
-
This blame is assigned to both developing and donor countries and stems from what the article's author Julian Borger calls short-sighted planning.
Archive 2008-06-01 2008
-
This blame is assigned to both developing and donor countries and stems from what the article's author Julian Borger calls short-sighted planning.
-
And yet, the blame is being assigned to the free market, and President Bush.
The Facts Don’t Seem Very Relevant To This Election « Tai-Chi Policy 2008
-
And yet, the blame is being assigned to the free market, and President [...]
-
The object of your blame is always less of an obstacle than your decision to blame.
FORGIVENESS Maggie Jochild 2007
brtom commented on the word blame
You must be a blame' fool. HF 16
December 5, 2006
frindley commented on the word blame
Business Logic Anomaly Menders and Extractors
idiots'>acronym courtesy of elgiad007 on idiots
November 13, 2008
bilby commented on the word blame
"And directors are the ones who get blamed for the ensuing public anger. When questioned at a Congressional hearing in the US over his pay deal worth $US480 million over seven years, former Lehman Brothers boss Richard Fuld blamed the remuneration committee of the board for giving it to him - even though he had appointed them. That's gratitude for you."
- Michael West, Down the golden chute, theage.com.au, 16 Feb 2009.
February 16, 2009