pin the blame on

phrase

: to assign (someone) the blame for something

When he got caught, he tried to pin the blame on someone else.

Eventually, researchers and governments did definitively pin the blame for that incident on the Russian government …

—Patrick Howell O'Neill

Examples of pin the blame on in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

How else to read this moment but as the culmination of that ‘natural way of things,’ which pins the blame on contemporary, commercialized womanhood? — Literary Hub, 2 Apr. 2026

News of the men’s killings and Bojeh’s past run-ins with the law caught the eye of Florida Attorney James Uthmeier, who pinned the blame on Worrell for not pursuing a conviction more aggressively in the 2021 case. — Cristóbal Reyes, The Orlando Sentinel, 26 Feb. 2026

The owner pinned the blame on financial issues in a text to workers on Monday. — Dennis Valera, CBS News, 3 Feb. 2026

Carroll also accused law enforcement of manipulating evidence to pin the blame on his client, and said Peres Magalhães had been arrested to flip on Banfield. — Dakin Andone, CNN Money, 14 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1892, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for pin the blame on

• arrondissement
• ferrosilicon
• lycopersicon
• mesencephalon
• polysilicon
• stereopticon
• telencephalon
• agamemnon
• automaton
• diencephalon
• panopticon
• phenomenon