blame

See also: blâmé and blâme

English

Pronunciation

enPR: blām, IPA^(key): /bleɪm/
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (UK) (file)
Rhymes: -eɪm

Etymology 1

From Middle English blame, borrowed from Old French blame, blasme, produced from the verb blasmer, which in turn is derived from Vulgar Latin *blastēmāre, present active infinitive of *blastēmō, from Ecclesiastical Latin, Late Latin blasphēmō, ultimately from Ancient Greek βλασφημέω (blasphēméō). Doublet of blaspheme. Displaced native Old English tǣling (“blame”) and tǣlan (“to blame”).

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.
(computing) A source control feature that can show which user was responsible for a particular portion of the source code.

Derived terms

blame game
blameworthy
put the blame on

Translations

censure — see censure

culpability — see culpability

responsibility — see responsibility

state of having caused a bad event

Arabic: لَوْم‎ m (lawm), مَلَامَة‎ f (malāma)
Hijazi Arabic: لوم‎ m (lōm)
Armenian: մեղք (hy) (mełkʿ)
Bulgarian: вина (bg) f (vina)
Catalan: culpa (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 責備／责备 (zh) (zébèi)
Dutch: schuld (nl) f
Finnish: syyllisyys (fi)
French: coupabilité f, blâme (fr) f
German: Schuld (de) f
Hebrew: אשמה‎ (he) f (ashmá)
Italian: colpa (it) f
Khmer: ទោស (km) (tooh)
Korean: 비난 (ko) (binan), 탓 (ko) (tat), 원망 (ko) (wonmang)
Middle English: blame
Plautdietsch: Schult f
Polish: wina (pl) f
Portuguese: culpa (pt) f
Russian: вина́ (ru) f (viná)
Scottish Gaelic: cron m, coire f
Slovene: krivda (sl)
Spanish: culpa (es) f
Swedish: skuld (sv)
Urdu: دوش‎ m
Venetian: colpa f
Vietnamese: lỗi (vi)

Etymology 2

From Middle English blamen, borrowed from Old French blasmer, from Ecclesiastical Latin blasphēmō (“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).

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, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:
  though my loue be not so lewdly bent, / As those ye blame, yet may it nought appease / My raging smart [...].
- 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter I, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, OCLC 948783829, book I, page 8:
  These peculiarities of Dorothea's character caused Mr Brooke to be all the more blamed in neighbouring 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.
(obsolete) To bring into disrepute.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:
  For knighthoods loue, do not so foule a deed, / Ne blame your honour with so shamefull vaunt / Of vile reuenge.
(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.

Conjugation

Conjugation of blame

infinitive	(to) blame
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	blame	blamed
2nd-person singular	blame, blamest^†	blamed, blamedst^†
3rd-person singular	blames, blameth^†	blamed
plural	blame	blamed

subjunctive	blame	blamed

imperative	blame	—

participles	blaming	blamed

^†Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms

(censure; criticize): reproach, shend, take to task, upbraid
(consider that someone is the cause of something negative): hold to account

Derived terms

blame Canada
blamer
dad-blamed
to blame
victim-blame

Translations

place blame upon

Arabic: لَامَ‎ (ar) (lāma)
Hijazi Arabic: لام‎ (lām)
Armenian: մեղադրել (hy) (meładrel)
Belarusian: вінава́ціць impf (vinavácicʹ), абвінава́чваць impf (abvinaváčvacʹ)
Bengali: এলজাম দেওয়া (elzam deẇa)
Bulgarian: виня (bg) (vinja), обвинявам (bg) (obvinjavam)
Catalan: culpar (ca)
Cherokee: ᎠᏚᎯᏍᏗᎭ (aduhisdiha)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 責備／责备 (zh) (zébèi), 責怪／责怪 (zh) (zéguài), 怪 (zh) (guài)
Czech: vinit (cs), obviňovat (cs) impf
Danish: skylde (da), bebrejde (da), dadle
Dutch: beschuldigen (nl), verwijten (nl), wijten (nl)
Esperanto: riproĉi, mallaŭdi
Estonian: süüdistama
Finnish: syyttää (fi)
French: reprocher (fr), blâmer (fr)
Galician: culpar (gl), culpabilizar, inculpar (gl)
German: beschuldigen (de), verantwortlich machen
Gothic: 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌹𐌽𐍉𐌽 (fairinōn)
Greek:
Ancient: μέμφομαι (mémphomai), ὄνομαι (ónomai)
Hebrew: האשים‎ (he'eshím)
Hungarian: hibáztat (hu), okol (hu), kárhoztat
Ido: blamar (io)
Indonesian: menuduh (id), menyalahi (id)
Irish: use bí + an (ga) + locht or milleán + a (ga) chur ar; literally the blame is on
Italian: incolpare (it), biasimare (it), dare torto
Japanese: 責める (ja) (せめる, semeru), -のせいにする (sei-ni suru)
Korean: 비난하다 (ko) (binanhada), 탓하다 (tathada), 원망하다 (ko) (wonmanghada)
Latin: culpō
Macedonian: обвинува impf (obvinuva), обвини pf (obvini)
Maori: uapare, whakatuaki, whakarare
Middle English: blamen
Norwegian: skylde
Occitan: blaimar (oc)
Old English: tǣlan
Oromo: komachuu
Persian: سرزنش کردن‎ (fa)
Polish: winić (pl) impf, obwiniać (pl) impf, obwinić (pl) pf
Portuguese: culpar (pt)
Quechua: tumpai
Romanian: inculpa (ro), învinui (ro), învinovăți (ro), blama (ro)
Russian: вини́ть (ru) impf (vinítʹ); обвиня́ть (ru) impf (obvinjátʹ), обвини́ть (ru) pf (obvinítʹ)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: кривити
Roman: kriviti (sh)
Slovak: viniť impf, obviňovať impf
Slovene: kriviti
Spanish: culpar (es), culpabilizar (es), echar la culpa, inculpar (es)
Swedish: skylla (sv), klandra (sv)
Thai: โทษ (th) (tôot)
Turkish: suçlamak (tr), suç atmak
Ukrainian: вини́ти impf (vynýty), винува́тити impf (vynuvátyty), звинува́чувати impf (zvynuváčuvaty)

Anagrams

Amble, Embla, Lambe, Mabel, Mable, Melba, amble, belam, melba

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French blasme, a deverbal noun from blasmer (“to criticise”).

Alternative forms

blam (rare)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈblaːm(ə)/

Noun

blame (uncountable)

criticism, condemnation
accusation (especially legal)
blame, culpability
offence, misdeed
imperfection, downside
disrepute, dishonour
blasphemy, irreverence

Descendants

English: blame
Scots: blame

References

“blāme, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Verb

blame

Alternative form of blamen

Walloon

Noun

blame f (plural blames)

flame
Synonym: flame