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blame

Pronunciation: /bleɪm/
Translate blame | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of blame

verb

[with object]
  • feel or declare that (someone or something) is responsible for a fault or wrong:the inquiry blamed the train driver for the accident
  • (blame something on) assign the responsibility for a bad or unfortunate situation or phenomenon to (someone or something):they blame youth crime on unemployment

noun

[mass noun]
  • responsibility for a fault or wrong:his players had to take the blame for the defeat they are trying to put the blame on us

Phrases

be to blame

be responsible for a fault or wrong:he was to blame for their deaths

I don't (or can't) blame you (or her etc.)

used to indicate that one agrees that the action or attitude taken was reasonable:he was becoming impatient and I couldn’t blame him

have only oneself to blame

be solely responsible for a bad or unwelcome state of affairs: he really had only himself to blame

Derivatives

blameable

(US also blamable) adjective

blameful

adjective

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French blamer, blasmer (verb), from a popular Latin variant of ecclesiastical Latin blasphemare 'reproach, revile, blaspheme', from Greek blasphēmein (see blaspheme)

blame in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of blame in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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