blame

BLAYM/bleɪm/

7 meanings of blame

1
hold responsibleverbtransitive
To hold a person or thing responsible for something bad; to say that a fault or bad outcome was caused by them.
Critics blame the mayor for the city's worsening traffic.
He has always blamed himself for the accident.
Usageblame someone for something, or blame something on someone. I don't blame you means your reaction is understandable.
Note
George Eliot's Middlemarch (1871) uses the passive with a gerund, describing Mr. Brooke as blamed by neighboring families for not securing a companion for his nieces. The usual pattern is blame someone for something.
2
faultnoununcountable
Responsibility for a fault, failure or bad outcome; the state of being the one at fault.
The investigation placed the blame squarely on the contractor.
Much of the blame for the famine lay with failed agricultural policies.
UsageUsually the blame: take the blame, put the blame on someone, the blame lies with someone.
3
criticizeverbtransitive
To criticize someone or something for what they did or how they are, judging their conduct to be wrong rather than naming them as the cause of a particular bad result.
A biographer's job is to understand her subject, not to praise or blame him.
The pamphlet blamed the clergy for their luxury and idleness.
UsageOften paired with praise (praise or blame), and then it can stand with no object.
Similarfault, criticize, censure, condemn
Oppositepraise, commend
Note
To find fault in general, without necessarily pinning a bad outcome on anyone. Spenser uses it in The Faerie Queene (1590). Clive James writes that he spent more time praising than blaming.
4
noununcountable
Censure; the expression of disapproval or strong criticism directed at a person for their actions.
The editorial heaped blame on officials who had ignored the warnings.
Her candor brought her more blame than praise.
UsageOften with no article (blame came from all sides), and often set against praise: more blame than praise.
Similarcriticism, censure, condemnation, reproach
Oppositepraise

Less common meanings

5
mild curseadjectivedated
A mild substitute for 'damn,' used to add emphasis, often expressing annoyance or frustration.
"I can't get this blame fence post to stand up straight," the old farmer muttered, wiping his brow.
“What do you want with one of those blame things?” / I asked him well beforehand. “Don’t you get one!”
1923, Robert Frost, “[Notes.] The Star-splitter.”
UsageUsed before a noun, as in that blame cat.
Similardarn, dang, blasted, blooming
Note
A minced oath: damn softened into a word that sounds respectable. Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous (1897) puts it in Tom Platt's dialect speech, and Robert Frost's "The Star-splitter" (1923) has a speaker grumble about those blame things. It belongs to homely, spoken voices, mild enough for polite company but plainly a curse in disguise.
6
verbobsolete
To bring into disrepute; to damage the reputation or standing of a person or thing.
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
Note
A sixteenth-century use that turns the modern verb inside out: what gets blamed is the good name that suffers, not the culprit. In Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590), a knight is urged not to blame his honor with a shameful boast of revenge, meaning not to stain it. Keep this in mind when reading older texts. In modern writing the verb assigns fault, and using it this way would only confuse.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Blame had a sixteenth-century sense meaning to disgrace or bring into disrepute. en.wiktionary.org
Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene; its first three books, including the cited passage in Book II, appeared in 1590. en.wikipedia.org
A knight is urged not to disgrace his honour by a shameful boast of revenge. emls.artsci.utoronto.ca
7
noun
A source control feature that shows which user last modified each line or portion of a file's code.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of blame apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 2, 4

This word came through Middle English from Old French "blame" (also "blasme"), formed from the verb "blasmer." That verb came from Late Latin "blastēmāre," a variant of "blasphēmāre," from Ancient Greek "blasphēméō." It is a doublet of "blaspheme" and displaced the native Old English "tǣling."

Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

The word came through Middle English from Old French blame, also spelled blasme. en.wiktionary.org
The Old French noun was formed from the verb blasmer. en.wiktionary.org
Old French blasmer descended from Late Latin blastēmāre, a variant of blasphēmāre. en.wiktionary.org
Latin blasphēmāre came from Ancient Greek blasphēméō. en.wiktionary.org
Blame and blaspheme are doublets. en.wiktionary.org
Blame displaced the native Old English word tǣling. en.wiktionary.org

Meanings 1, 3, 5–6

The chain starts with Ancient Greek "blasphēméō," which Late Latin made into "blasphēmāre" ("to reproach, to revile"); Old French turned that into "blasmer," and English got it as Middle English "blamen." "Blaspheme" is a doublet, and this word pushed aside the native "wite."