Adjacent Words

Blame definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BLAME, v.t. [The Greeks have the root of this word, to blaspheme.]
1. To censure; to express disapprobation of; to find fault with; opposed to praise or commend, and applicable most properly to persons, but applied also to things.
I withstood him, because he was to be blamed. Galatians 2.
I must blame your conduct; or I must blame you for neglecting business. Legitimately, it cannot be followed by of.
2. To bring reproach upon; to blemish; to injure. [See Blemish.]
She had blamed her noble blood.
BLAME, n. Censure; reprehension; imputation of a fault; disapprobation; an expression of disapprobation for something deemed to be wrong.
Let me bear the blame forever. Genesis 43.
1. Fault; crime; sin; that which is deserving of censure or disapprobation.
That we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Ephesians 1.
2. Hurt; injury.
And glancing down his shield, from blame him fairly blest.
The sense of this word, as used by Spenser, proves that it is a derivative from the root of blemish.
To blame, in the phrase,he is to blame, signifies blamable, to be blamed.
Blame is not strictly a charge or accusation of a fault; but it implies an opinion in the censuring party, that the person censured is faulty. Blame is the act or expression of disapprobation for what is supposed to be wrong.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: expletives used informally as intensifiers; "he's a blasted idiot"; "it's a blamed shame"; "a blame cold winter"; "not a blessed dime"; "I'll be damned (or blessed or darned or goddamned) if I'll do any such thing"; "he's a damn (or goddam or goddamned) fool"; "a deuced idiot"; "an infernal nuisance" [syn: blasted, blame, blamed, blessed, damn, damned, darned, deuced, goddam, goddamn, goddamned, infernal] n
1: an accusation that you are responsible for some lapse or misdeed; "his incrimination was based on my testimony"; "the police laid the blame on the driver" [syn: incrimination, inculpation, blame]
2: a reproach for some lapse or misdeed; "he took the blame for it"; "it was a bum rap" [syn: blame, rap] v
1: put or pin the blame on [syn: blame, fault] [ant: absolve, free, justify]
2: harass with constant criticism; "Don't always pick on your little brother" [syn: blame, find fault, pick]
3: attribute responsibility to; "We blamed the accident on her"; "The tragedy was charged to her inexperience" [syn: blame, charge]

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb (blamed; blaming) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French blamer, blasmer, from Late Latin blasphemare to blaspheme, from Greek blasph?mein Date: 13th century 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 Usage: 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. II. noun Date: 13th century 1. an expression of disapproval or reproach ; censure 2. a. a state of being blameworthy ; culpability b. archaic fault, sin 3. responsibility for something believed to deserve censure <they must share the blame> • blameless adjective • blamelessly adverb • blamelessness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.tr. 1 assign fault or responsibility to. 2 (foll. by on) assign the responsibility for (an error or wrong) to a person etc. (blamed his death on a poor diet). --n. 1 responsibility for a bad result; culpability (shared the blame equally; put the blame on the bad weather). 2 the act of blaming or attributing responsibility; censure (she got all the blame). Phrases and idioms: be to blame (often foll. by for) be responsible; deserve censure (she is not to blame for the accident). have only oneself to blame be solely responsible (for something one suffers). I don't blame you etc. I think your etc. action was justifiable. Derivatives: blameable adj. Etymology: ME f. OF bla(s)mer (v.), blame (n.) f. pop.L blastemare f. eccl.L blasphemare reproach f. Gk blasphemeo blaspheme

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Blame Blame (bl[=a]m), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blamed (bl[=a]md); p. pr. & vb. n. Blaming.] [OE. blamen, F. bl[^a]mer, OF. blasmer, fr. L. blasphemare to blaspheme, LL. also to blame, fr. Gr. blasfhmei^n to speak ill, to slander, to blaspheme, fr. bla`sfhmos evil speaking, perh, for blapsi`fhmos; bla`psis injury (fr. bla`ptein to injure) + fh`mh a saying, fr. fa`nai to say. Cf. Blaspheme, and see Fame.] 1. To censure; to express disapprobation of; to find fault with; to reproach. We have none to blame but ourselves. --Tillotson. 2. To bring reproach upon; to blemish. [Obs.] She . . . blamed her noble blood. --Spenser. To blame, to be blamed, or deserving blame; in fault; as, the conductor was to blame for the accident. You were to blame, I must be plain with you. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Blame Blame, n. [OE. blame, fr. F. bl[^a]me, OF. blasme, fr. bl[^a]mer, OF. blasmer, to blame. See Blame, v.] 1. An expression of disapprobation fir something deemed to be wrong; imputation of fault; censure. Let me bear the blame forever. --Gen. xiiii. 9. 2. That which is deserving of censure or disapprobation; culpability; fault; crime; sin. Holy and without blame before him in love. --Eph. i. 4. 3. Hurt; injury. [Obs.] --Spenser. Syn: Censure; reprehension; condemnation; reproach; fault; sin; crime; wrongdoing.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(blames, blaming, blamed) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If you blame a person or thing for something bad, you believe or say that they are responsible for it or that they caused it. The commission is expected to blame the army for many of the atrocities... Ms Carey appeared to blame her breakdown on EMI's punishing work schedule... If it wasn't Sam's fault, why was I blaming him? VERB: V n for n, V n on n, V n • Blame is also a noun. Nothing could relieve my terrible sense of blame. 2. The blame for something bad that has happened is the responsibility for causing it or letting it happen. Some of the blame for the miscarriage of justice must be borne by the solicitors... The president put the blame squarely on his opponent. N-UNCOUNT: oft N for n/-ing 3. If you say that you do not blame someone for doing something, you mean that you consider it was a reasonable thing to do in the circumstances. I do not blame them for trying to make some money... He slammed the door and stormed off. I could hardly blame him. VERB: usu with brd-neg, V n for -ing, V n 4. If someone is to blame for something bad that has happened, they are responsible for causing it. If their forces were not involved, then who is to blame?... The policy is partly to blame for causing the worst unemployment in Europe. PHRASE: v-link PHR 5. If you say that someone has only themselves to blame or has no-one but themselves to blame, you mean that they are responsible for something bad that has happened to them and that you have no sympathy for them. My life is ruined and I suppose I only have myself to blame. PHRASE: V inflects

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. Censure, condemn, disapprove, reprehend, reproach, reflect upon, lay or cast blame upon, find fault with, cry out against, animadvert upon. II. n. 1. Censure, reprehension, animadversion, disapproval, disapprobation, reproach, reproof, condemnation, imputation of fault. 2. Fault, wrong, misdeed, misdoing, ill-desert, guilt, shortcoming, sin, reproach, defect, demerit.

Moby Thesaurus

account for, accountability, accounting for, accredit with, accrete to, accusal, accusation, accuse, accusing, acknowledge, allegation, allegement, anathema, anathematize, anathemize, animadvert on, answerability, application, apply to, arraign, arraignment, arrogation, ascribe to, ascription, assign to, assignation, assignment, attach to, attachment, attribute to, attribution, bill of particulars, blame for, blame on, bring home to, bringing of charges, bringing to book, call to account, cast blame upon, cast reflection upon, castigation, censure, charge, charge on, charge to, complain against, complaint, condemn, condemnation, confess, connect with, connection with, count, credit, credit with, criticism, criticize, cry down, cry out against, cry out on, cry shame upon, culpability, damn, damnation, decrial, decry, delation, denounce, denouncement, denunciate, denunciation, derivation from, disapprobation, disapproval, etiology, excoriation, fasten upon, father upon, fault, fix on, fix upon, flaying, fulminate against, fulmination, fustigation, guilt, hang on, hold against, honor, impeach, impeachment, implication, impugn, imputation, impute, impute to, incriminate, indict, indictment, information, innuendo, insinuation, inveigh against, knock, lawsuit, lay to, laying of charges, liability, objurgation, onus, palaetiology, pillorying, pin on, pinpoint, place upon, placement, plaint, point to, prosecution, rap, rebuke, recriminate, recrimination, refer to, reference to, reflect upon, reprehend, reprehension, reprimand, reproach, reprobate, reprobation, reproof, reprove, responsibility, saddle on, saddle with, saddling, scold, set down to, settle upon, shake up, skin, skinning alive, stricture, suit, taxing, true bill, unspoken accusation, veiled accusation