blame

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a reproach for some lapse or misdeed

   They took the blame for it.

2. 2
   verb

   to attribute responsibility to

   We blamed the accident on them.

3. 3
   verb

   to put or pin the blame on

   The police blamed the kids for the broken windows.

4. 4
   noun

   Censure.

   Blame came from all directions.

5. 5
   noun

   Culpability for something negative or undesirable.

   The blame for starting the fire lies with the arsonist.

6. 6
   noun

   Responsibility for something meriting censure.

   They accepted the blame, but it was an accident.

7. 7
   verb

   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 student driver was blamed for the accident.

8. 8
   verb

   To assert the cause of some bad event.

   We blamed the accident on the student driver.

Etymology

From Middle English blamen, borrowed from Old French blasmer, from Late Latin blasphēmāre (“to reproach, to revile”), from Ancient Greek βλασφημέω (blasphēméō). Compare blaspheme, a doublet. Overtook common use from the native wite (“to blame, accuse, reproach, suspect”) (from Middle English wīten, from Old English wītan).