blaming

Pluralblamings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of blame.

   The report keeps blaming management for the repeated delays.

   Constantly blaming the referee, the coach lost the crowd's sympathy.

   Note

   Because it is still a verb, this form keeps the verb's pattern: you are blaming a person, and the fault follows with for (blaming the weather for a late train). It builds progressives, opens participle clauses, and works as a gerund after verbs like stop or avoid. One meaning of blame, "to bring into disrepute," is obsolete, so blaming in that sense belongs only to older texts.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of accusing someone or holding them responsible for a fault or wrongdoing.

   The endless blaming between the two departments stalled any real progress.

   Her therapist warned that constant blaming was eroding the relationship.

   Similarfinger-pointing, recrimination, accusation

   Note

   An older noun than it looks: Middle English already had blamyng, blame with -ing attached, and it behaves as a full noun. It takes articles and adjectives (the endless blaming), names its target with of rather than a direct object (the blaming of a colleague), and can even be counted, as blamings, for separate episodes. Those habits tell it apart from the verb form, which takes its object directly.

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