From Middle English blame, borrowed from Old French blame, blasme, produced from the verb blasmer, which in turn is derived from Late Latin blastēmāre, variant of blasphēmāre, from Ancient Greek βλασφημέω (blasphēméō). Doublet of blaspheme. Displaced native Old English tǣling (“blame”) and tǣlan (“to blame”).
Meanings
(uncountable) Censure.
Blame came from all directions.
(uncountable) Culpability for something negative or undesirable.
The blame for starting the fire lies with the arsonist.
(uncountable) Responsibility for something meriting censure.
They accepted the blame, but it was an accident.
(uncountable) A source control feature that can show which user was responsible for a particular portion of the source code.
sl krivda (state of having caused a bad event) · it colpa (state of having caused a bad event) · pl wina (state of having caused a bad event) · enm blame (state of having caused a bad event) · ur دوش (state of having caused a bad event) · fr coupabilité (state of having caused a bad event) · vi lỗi (state of having caused a bad event) · fr blâme (state of having caused a bad event) · tr suç (state of having caused a bad event) · ru вина́ (state of having caused a bad event) · cmn 責備 /责备 (state of having caused a bad event) · gd cron (state of having caused a bad event) · es culpa (state of having caused a bad event) · ko 탓 (state of having caused a bad event) · ga milleán (state of having caused a bad event) · he אשמה (state of having caused a bad event) · ar لَوْم (state of having caused a bad event) · bg вина (state of having caused a bad event) · ar مَلَامَة (state of having caused a bad event) · pdt Schult (state of having caused a bad event) · ko 원망 (state of having caused a bad event) · nl schuld (state of having caused a bad event) · km ទោស (state of having caused a bad event) · sv skuld (state of having caused a bad event) · vec colpa (state of having caused a bad event) · acw لوم (state of having caused a bad event) · gd coire (state of having caused a bad event) · ko 비난 (state of having caused a bad event) · pt culpa (state of having caused a bad event) · de Schuld (state of having caused a bad event) · hy մեղք (state of having caused a bad event) · ca culpa (state of having caused a bad event) · fi syyllisyys (state of having caused a bad event)
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).
Meanings
(not-comparable) euphemism of damn (intensifier)
"He yarns good," said Tom Platt. "T'other night he told us abaout a kid of his own size steerin' a cunnin' little rig an' four ponies up an' down Toledo, Ohio, I think 'twas, an' givin' suppers to a crowd o' sim'lar kids. Cur'us kind o' fairy-tale, but blame interestin'. He knows scores of 'em." 1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:
“What do you want with one of those blame things?” / I asked him well beforehand. “Don’t you get one!” 1923 October, Robert Frost, “[Notes.] The Star-splitter.”, in New Hampshire […], New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 27:
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).
Meanings
(followed by "for", transitive, usually) 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).
After what happened at the wedding, I wouldn't blame you if you never spoke to them again.
The student driver was blamed for the accident.
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. 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter I, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I, page 8:
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. 1919, Saki, ‘The Oversight’, The Toys of Peace:
(transitive, with "on") To assert the cause of some bad event.
Have to catch an early train, got to be to work by nine
And if I had an airplane, I still couldn't make it on time
'Cause it takes me so long just to figure out what I'm gonna wear
Blame it on the train, but the boss is already there 1985 December 23, Prince, “Manic Monday”, in Different Light, performed by The Bangles:
We blamed the accident on the student driver.
To censure (someone or something); to criticize.
I covered the serious programmes too, and indeed, right from the start, I spent more time praising than blaming. 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador, published 2007, page 106:
though my loue be not so lewdly bent, / As those ye blame, yet may it nought appease / My raging smart [...]. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
(obsolete) To bring into disrepute.
For knighthoods loue, do not so foule a deed, / Ne blame your honour with so shamefull vaunt / Of vile reuenge. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC: