Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Blame
Blame
(blām)
, Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Blamed
(blāmd)
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Blaming
.] [OE.
blamen
, F. blâmer
, OF. blasmer
, fr. L. blasphemare
to blaspheme, LL. also to blame, fr. Gr. βλασφημεῖν
to speak ill, to slander, to blaspheme, fr. βλάσφημοσ
evil speaking, perh, for βλαψίφημος
; βλάψισ
injury (fr. βλάπτειν
to injure) + φήμη
a saying, fr. φάναι
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. Shakespeare
Blame
,Noun.
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.
Webster 1828 Edition
Blame
BLAME
,Verb.
T.
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. Gal.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
,Noun.
Let me bear the blame forever. Gen.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. Eph.i.
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.
Definition 2024
blame
blame
English
Noun
blame (uncountable)
- Censure.
- Blame came from all directions.
- Culpability for something negative or undesirable.
- The blame for starting the fire lies with the arsonist.
- Responsibility for something meriting censure.
- They accepted the blame, but it was an accident.
Derived terms
See also
Translations
censure — see censure
culpability — see culpability
responsibility — see responsibility
state of having caused a bad event
Etymology 2
Middle English, from Old French blasmer, from Late Latin blasphēmō (“to reproach, to revile”). Compare blaspheme. Overtook common use from the native wite (“to blame, accuse, reproach, suspect”) (from Middle English wīten, from Old English wītan).
Verb
blame (third-person singular simple present blames, present participle blaming, simple past and past participle blamed)
- To censure (someone or something); to criticize.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ii:
- though my loue be not so lewdly bent, / As those ye blame, yet may it nought appease / My raging smart [...].
- 1871–72, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Chapter 1
- These peculiarities of Dorothea's character caused Mr. Brooke to be all the more blamed in neighboring families for not securing some middle-aged lady as guide and companion to his nieces.
- 1919, Saki, ‘The Oversight’, The Toys of Peace:
- That was the year that Sir Richard was writing his volume on Domestic Life in Tartary. The critics all blamed it for a lack of concentration.
- 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador 2007, p. 106:
- I covered the serious programmes too, and indeed, right from the start, I spent more time praising than blaming.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ii:
- (obsolete) To bring into disrepute.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.viii:
- For knighthoods loue, do not so foule a deed, / Ne blame your honour with so shamefull vaunt / Of vile reuenge.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.viii:
- (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).
- The arsonist was blamed for the fire.
Synonyms
- (censure; criticize): reproach, take to task, upbraid
- (consider that someone is the cause of something negative): hold to account
Derived terms
Translations
place blame upon
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