Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To hold responsible.
- v. To find fault with; censure.
- v. To place responsibility for (something): blamed the crisis on poor planning.
- n. The state of being responsible for a fault or error; culpability.
- n. Censure; condemnation.
- idiom. to blame Deserving censure; at fault.
- idiom. to blame Being the cause or source of something: A freak storm was to blame for the power outage.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To express disapprobation of; find fault with; censure: opposed to praise or commend.
- Formerly it might be followed by of.
- To charge; impute as a fault; lay the responsibility of: as, he blames the failure on you.
- To bring reproach upon; blemish; injure.
- [In such phrases as he is to blame, to blame, by an old and common construction, has the passive meaning ‘to be blamed, blamable.’ Compare a house to let, hire, build; grain ready to cut, etc.
- In writers of the Elizabethan period it was often written too blame, blame apparently being mistaken for an adjective.] Synonyms To reprove, reproach, chide, upbraid, reprehend. See decry.
- n. An expression of disapproval of something deemed to be wrong; imputation of a fault; censure; reprehension.
- n. That which is deserving of censure or disapprobation; fault; crime; sin.
- n. Culpability; responsibility for something that is wrong: as, the blame is yours.
- n. Hurt; injury.
Wiktionary
- n. Censure.
- n. Culpability for something negative or undesirable.
- n. Responsibility for something meriting censure.
- v. To censure (someone or something); to criticize.
- v. obsolete To bring into disrepute.
- v. transitive, usually followed by "for" To assert or consider that someone is the cause of something negative; to place blame, to attribute responsibility (for something negative or for doing something negative).
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To censure; to express disapprobation of; to find fault with; to reproach.
- v. obsolete To bring reproach upon; to blemish.
- n. An expression of disapprobation fir something deemed to be wrong; imputation of fault; censure.
- n. That which is deserving of censure or disapprobation; culpability; fault; crime; sin.
- n. obsolete Hurt; injury.
WordNet 3.0
- v. harass with constant criticism
- v. put or pin the blame on
- v. attribute responsibility to
- n. a reproach for some lapse or misdeed
- n. an accusation that you are responsible for some lapse or misdeed
- adj. expletives used informally as intensifiers
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old French blasmer, from Late Latin blasphēmō ("to reproach, to revile"). Compare blaspheme (Wiktionary)
- Middle English blamen, from Old French blasmer, blamer, from Vulgar Latin *blastēmāre, alteration of Late Latin blasphēmāre, to reproach; see blaspheme. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Now those boys were not wholly to blame for what they were doing; but their fathers and mothers were _very much to blame_!”
“I should have understood — the blame is all mine — I should have known you did not love me, I should have been filled with anger and shame instead of happiness.”
“Jeff Miron: But I do not use the word "blame," since that implies they are doing something harmful or inappropriate.”
“We the American people know where the blame is and we say yes while all the GOP can do is whine and say NO.”
“And yet, the blame is being assigned to the free market, and President Bush.”
The Facts Don’t Seem Very Relevant To This Election « Tai-Chi Policy
“And yet, the blame is being assigned to the free market, and President [...]”
“This blame is assigned to both developing and donor countries and stems from what the article's author Julian Borger calls short-sighted planning.”
“The object of your blame is always less of an obstacle than your decision to blame.”
“David, so, there are some new reports that point to rising despair in the McCain campaign -- Politico tonight reporting that some of McCain's own advisers are engaged in what they call blame-casting, and some top congressional aides slamming him for what they said was -- was an unfocused message.”
“Politico tonight reporting that some of McCain's own advisors are engaged in what they call blame casting and some top Congressional aides slamming him for what they say was an unfocused message.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘blame’.
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POL - scandalous (single words only)
acolyte, archrival, backhander, backlash, baksheesh, bashing, boo, bribery, cadre, chicanery, clash, coercion and 256 more...
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EU Buzz - ALL words and expressions
A combined list of
1. EU Buzz - single words
2. EU Buzz - collocations
3. EU Buzz - the 100 most active
collocation constituentsabsorption capacity, absorption rate, acceding country, accession candidate, accession countries, accession country, accession criteria, accession cycle, accession negotia..., accession partner..., accession priorities, accession treaty and 2650 more...
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POL - scandalous (words and collocati...
Words and collocations associated with political scandal
blow the whistle, boo, cronyism and rigging, democratic deficit, denigrate, dirty linen, fiasco, finger pointing a..., graft, hidden account, hush money, illicit financing... and 578 more...
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EU Buzz - single words (1+2+3)
1. Strictly EU terms with special European meaning used only in the EU
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2. Keywords central to the understanding of the EU (people working for the EU are usually able to give thematic...acceleration, action, additionality, administrator, agenda, agricultural, agri-environmental, agriflation, agri-food, applicant, approach, assent and 1325 more...
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no little thing
it bothers me when i hear someone who have experienced something life changing use the phrase: now i appreciate the little things. I DON'T BELIEVE THERE ARE ANY LITTLE THINGS. everything is EXTRAOR...
letters, living, understand, narrow, behavior, personal, need, meant, untamed, world, soldier, 'cause and 241 more...
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NATO
New Acronyms To Ogle
Existing words, new acronyms.
Inspired by elgiad007. -
Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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huck finnian
ain't, stretchers, without, sivilize, hogshead, victuals, bulrushers, tolerable, goggles, middling, reckoned, who-whooing and 287 more...
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Prosie: Obama's Inaugural Address
In keeping with my other Prosies (like this one). There were a number of phrases as well as words in this speech that I found particularly compelling.
My fellow citizens: I stand here ...we did not turn b..., when we were tested, what storms may come, icy currents, virtue, hope, alarmed, depth of winter, revolution, snow, enemy, abandoned and 257 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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The things they carried (List 2)
Listening to this as an audio book for the second time. Tim O'Brien uses simple words and phrases to great effect. Very few unfamilar and big words . The writing style reminds me of words from Joh...
The, Things, They, Carried, meant, fond, By necessity,, presented to him, far beyond, against the brick..., reaching, taut and 2940 more...
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Speaking in Tongues - an REM list
Words heard in various REM songs that I enjoy and that I think are indicative of the band. Not too literally, of course.
pilgrimage, pageant, suspicion, penitence, gentlemen, chronic, stigma, deadlier, transit, fortunate, momentum, misconstrued and 162 more...
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TT1 Lesson 12
delivery, delivery man, delivery truck, delivery van, date, ship, shipping date, shipping company, unacceptable, acceptable, in trouble, blame and 19 more...
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Tunie: One Week
I always forget that this humorous song is actually about a fight.
It's been one week since you looked at me
Cocked your head to the side and said "I'm angry"
Five days s...home, sorry, smile, blame, living room, tendency, funeral, laugh, wrong, iron, nub, better and 14 more...
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Lyrics
Mixed lyrics, students need to analyze the words and decide which ones are related to which songs
make-up, pretty, funny, walls, come down, wreck, heavy, February, valentine, regret, dance, young and 38 more...
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Zimbabwoe
A list of words and terminology culled from the media in relation to the political situation in Zimbabwe. List commenced April 2008.
election, poverty, hyperinflation, tsvangirai, mdc, mugabe, zanu pf, activist, stalemate, behind-the-scenes, arrest, election result and 86 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for blame.
bilby "And directors are the ones who get blamed for the ensuing public anger. When questioned at a Congressional hearing in the US over his pay deal worth $US480 million over seven years, former Lehman Brothers boss Richard Fuld blamed the remuneration committee of the board for giving it to him - even though he had appointed them. That's gratitude for you."
- Michael West, Down the golden chute, theage.com.au, 16 Feb 2009. Feb 16, 2009
frindley Business Logic Anomaly Menders and Extractors
acronym courtesy of elgiad007 on idiots Nov 12, 2008
brtom You must be a blame' fool. HF 16 Dec 4, 2006