Definition of blamablenext

Synonym Chooser

How is the word blamable different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of blamable are blameworthy, culpable, and guilty. While all these words mean "deserving reproach or punishment," blameworthy and blamable apply to any degree of reprehensibility.

conduct adjudged blameworthy
an accident for which no one is blamable

When could culpable be used to replace blamable?

While the synonyms culpable and blamable are close in meaning, culpable is weaker than guilty and is likely to connote malfeasance or errors of ignorance, omission, or negligence.

culpable neglect

When would guilty be a good substitute for blamable?

The words guilty and blamable are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, guilty implies responsibility for or consciousness of crime, sin, or, at the least, grave error or misdoing.

guilty of a breach of etiquette

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for blamable
Adjective
  • Two men charged with stealing about $667,000 of Louis Vuitton merchandise from the back of delivery trucks — robbing the drivers at gunpoint — pleaded not guilty in San Diego Superior Court on Wednesday, prosecutors said.
    Caleb Lunetta, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 May 2026
  • The agency noted that criminal charges are allegations and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
    Jasmine Baehr, FOXNews.com, 8 May 2026
Adjective
  • Extreme cold made the O-rings fail, but NASA’s culture was just as blameworthy and needed a retrofit more urgently than any piece of shuttle hardware.
    Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 28 Jan. 2026
  • As the shutdown goes on, moreover, the polling on which side is more to blame seems to be gradually shifting toward Democrats as the more blameworthy side.
    Josh Hammer, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Mason Miller is the only reliever not culpable in one of those losses.
    Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Apr. 2026
  • Haaland bursts our bubble almost immediately by scoring in the opening five minutes, and Burnley miss a few good first-half chances, with striker Zian Flemming particularly culpable.
    Nnamdi Onyeagwara, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2026
Adjective
  • Gerard Moorer, 42, of Chicago, who served as Davis’ deputy district director and ran unsuccessfully for the statehouse himself in 2020, was charged in the nine-page indictment with three counts of wire fraud, each of which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
    Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune, 7 May 2026
  • Second violations carry a $1,000 fine, and each subsequent violation is considered a misdemeanor offense punishable by another fine and up to six months in jail.
    Matthew Kelly, Kansas City Star, 7 May 2026
Adjective
  • His poor display of unsportsmanlike conduct was reprehensible.
    Kirk Bohls, Houston Chronicle, 7 Apr. 2026
  • Prisons are filled with the faithful and the daily news reports are overflowing with reprehensible, criminal, degenerate theists.
    Letters to the Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 5 Apr. 2026
Adjective
  • The protester who threw a garbage bin was arrested for reckless endangerment shortly after cops arrive, officials said.
    Roni Jacobson, New York Daily News, 3 May 2026
  • One of the reckless endangerment arrests was for a person who allegedly threw garbage at a vehicle that was unrelated to the ICE operation, according to the NYPD.
    Armando Garcia, ABC News, 3 May 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Blamable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/blamable. Accessed 9 May. 2026.

More from Merriam-Webster on blamable

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster