blame

1 of 2

verb

ˈblām 

blamed; blaming

transitive verb

1

: to find fault with : censure

the right to praise or blame a literary work

2

a

: to hold responsible

they blame me for everything

b

: to place responsibility for

blames it on me

blamer noun

Is it blame on or blame for?: Usage Guide

Use of blame in sense 2b with on has occasionally been disparaged as wrong. Such disparagement is without basis; blame on occurs as frequently in carefully edited prose as blame for. Both are standard.

blame

2 of 2

noun

1

: an expression of disapproval or reproach : censure

… saying nothing … either in the way of blame or praise.

—R. L. Stevenson

2

a

: a state of being blameworthy : culpability

… acknowledge the world as a world of common blame,

—Muriel Rukeyser

b

archaic : fault, sin

3

: responsibility for something believed to deserve censure

they must share the blame

blameless

ˈblām-ləs 

adjective

blamelessly adverb

blamelessness noun

Phrases

to blame

: at fault : responsible

says he's not to blame for the accident

Synonyms

Verb

• censure
• condemn
• criticize
• denounce
• dis [slang]
• diss
• dispraise
• fault
• knock
• pan
• reprehend
• slag [chiefly British]

Noun

• culpability
• fault
• guilt
• onus
• rap

Examples of blame in a Sentence

Verb

Don't blame me. You are responsible for your own problems.

My father always blames everything on me.

I blame the poor harvest on the weather.

Noun

It's not entirely his fault, but he's not completely free of blame, either.

willingly accepted the blame for not seeing that the kitchen was properly cleaned

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Biden is calling for Congress to approve $6 billion to keep the program funded through the end of the year, and blaming GOP legislators for its wind-down affecting 23 million Americans. —Aaron Gettinger, arkansasonline.com, 2 Apr. 2024

A couple of students threw out suggestions: no running around the room, no interrupting, no blaming others, nobody is better than anybody else. —Ariel Gilreath, USA TODAY, 2 Apr. 2024

Spencer denied wrongdoing and blamed critical media coverage and poor pay for staff shortages. —Daniel Bice, Journal Sentinel, 2 Apr. 2024

His office blames a heat wave for surging demand, as well as events out of the municipal government's control — like a lightning strike at a water pump station at the start of March. —Kate Bartlett, NPR, 1 Apr. 2024

Ten days later, a U.S. Special Operations retaliatory drone strike in Baghdad killed a senior leader of a militia that American officials blame for the attacks on American personnel. —Michael Levenson, New York Times, 1 Apr. 2024

Naturally, Springsteen blames David (and the water glass incident) for the show’s cancelation on social media, causing his fans to attack the comedian. —Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 1 Apr. 2024

Minaj recovered from the faux pas (after her first attempt at covering herself) but jokingly blamed her fans for the mishap. —Michelle Lee, Peoplemag, 1 Apr. 2024

The carrier blamed the manufacturer’s issues for a pilot hiring freeze. —Melvin Backman, Quartz, 29 Mar. 2024

Noun

The company is also facing lawsuits involving its Autopilot software, which question whether the driver is solely responsible when things go wrong in a vehicle guided by Autopilot, or if the software should also bear some of the blame. —Trisha Thadani, Washington Post, 2 Apr. 2024

Both remain hurt over the blame their team shouldered for decades after the program was shut down. —Joe Drape, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2024

Rather than reacting impulsively or assigning blame, try to prioritize understanding. —Ellie Victor, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024

Indeed, multiple people familiar with the matter have told me that the infighting among NBC executives over who was at fault for the disaster has reached a fever pitch, with various factions of the NBCU News Group assigning blame to others. —Oliver Darcy, CNN, 27 Mar. 2024

An inquiry later assigned blame to the bridge’s engineers. —Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Mar. 2024

Ukraine has denied any role in the attack, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Putin of seeking to divert blame for the attack by mentioning Ukraine, something Macron said was a mistake. —Lidia Kelly and Philippa Fletcher, USA TODAY, 25 Mar. 2024

Some aviation experts have said the airline incidents such as those affecting United’s Boeing planes are more common than consumers might think and that United may share some of the blame with Boeing, the manufacturer. —Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 18 Mar. 2024

However, jurors assigned 30% of the blame to Dugan — reducing the amount Tesla owes the estate to $42,481,243. —Tim Evans, The Indianapolis Star, 15 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Verb and Noun

Middle English, from Anglo-French blamer, blasmer, from Late Latin blasphemare to blaspheme, from Greek blasphēmein

First Known Use

Verb

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing blame

• apportion blame
• lay the blame/responsibility on
• lay the blame for (something) at someone's door
• not blame
• have no one to blame but oneself
• have (only) oneself to blame
• the finger of blame/suspicion
• blame/shoot the messenger
• take the blame
• pin the blame on
• to blame

Kids Definition

blame

1 of 2 verb

ˈblām 

blamed; blaming

1

: to find fault with : censure

2

a

: to hold responsible

blame them for everything

b

: to place responsibility for

blames it on me

blamable

ˈblā-mə-bəl

adjective

blamably

-blē

adverb

blamer noun

blame

2 of 2 noun

1

: expression of disapproval

receive both blame and praise

2

: responsibility for something that fails : fault

take the blame for the defeat

Etymology

Verb

Middle English blamen "to find fault with," from early French blamer, blasmer (same meaning), from Latin blasphemare "to speak ill of," from Greek blasphemein "to blaspheme" — related to blaspheme