to blame

Also found in: Thesaurus, Idioms.


tr.v. blamed, blam·ing, blames
1. To consider responsible for a misdeed, failure, or undesirable outcome: blamed the coach for the loss; blamed alcohol for his bad behavior.
2. To find fault with; criticize: I can't blame you for wanting your fair share.
3. To place responsibility for (something): blamed the crisis on poor planning.
1. The state of being responsible for a fault or error; culpability.
2. Censure; condemnation: "Hoover hazarded more in the way of federal response to economic crisis than any president before him, but his efforts were not enough to divert the blame and wrath of the American people" (Michael B. Stoff).
to blame
1. Deserving censure or disapproval; at fault: an investigation to determine who was to blame for the leak.
2. Being the cause or source of something: A freak storm was to blame for the power outage.

[Middle English blamen, from Old French blasmer, blamer, from Vulgar Latin *blastēmāre, alteration of Late Latin blasphēmāre, to reproach; see blaspheme.]

blam′a·ble, blame′a·ble adj.
blam′a·bly, blame′a·bly adv.
blam′er n.
Synonyms: blame, fault, guilt
These nouns denote responsibility for an offense or error. Blame stresses the assignment of accountability and often connotes censure or criticism: The police laid the blame for the accident on the driver.
Fault suggests a failure or deficiency on the part of the responsible party: It's my own fault that I wasn't prepared for the exam.
Guilt applies to willful wrongdoing and stresses moral or legal transgression: The prosecution had evidence of the defendant's guilt.
References in classic literature ?
"I'm not to blame that the conversation began in the presence of other officers.
"You don't wish to apologize, but, man, it's not only to him but to the whole regiment- all of us- you're to blame all round.
Well, never mind, it's true I'm to blame, to blame all round.
He is not to blame. He would have gone on worshipping me.
His natural inclination to blame, hitherto kept entirely in abeyance toward his father by the predisposition to think him always right, simply on the ground that he was Tom Tulliver's father, was turned into this new channel by his mother's plaints; and with his indignation against Wakem there began to mingle some indignation of another sort.
I don't want you to blame yourself, whatever comes.
They were just enough not to blame Norah for this; they were just enough to acknowledge that her conduct had been as irreproachable as I had guaranteed it should be when I got her the situation.
"Dolly!" he said, sobbing now; "for mercy's sake, think of the children; they are not to blame! I am to blame, and punish me, make me expiate my fault.