blame
verb/bleɪm/
/bleɪm/
Verb Forms
Idioms | present simple I / you / we / they blame | /bleɪm/ /bleɪm/ |
| he / she / it blames | /bleɪmz/ /bleɪmz/ |
| past simple blamed | /bleɪmd/ /bleɪmd/ |
| past participle blamed | /bleɪmd/ /bleɪmd/ |
| -ing form blaming | /ˈbleɪmɪŋ/ /ˈbleɪmɪŋ/ |
- to think or say that somebody/something is responsible for something bad
- blame somebody/something for something She doesn't blame anyone for her father's death.
- A dropped cigarette is being blamed for the fire.
- Why is he blaming others for his problems?
- blame somebody/something for doing something You can't really blame them for not telling you.
- blame somebody/something It's easy to blame the media at times like this.
- blame something on somebody/something Police are blaming the accident on dangerous driving.
- The violence was blamed in part on militants.
Extra Examples- Blaming the victim is characteristic of any prejudice.
- He is widely blamed for masterminding the attacks.
- I don't blame Jack for the mistake.
- The government has been widely blamed for the crisis.
- You can hardly blame Peter for being angry with her.
- She blamed the government for failing to respond to the crisis.
- Whenever something goes wrong, everyone blames it on me.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- unfairly
- unjustly
- partly
- …
- can’t
- don’t
- can hardly
- …
- for
- on
- be to blame (for something)
- be widely blamed for something
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French blamer, blasmer (verb), from a popular Latin variant of ecclesiastical Latin blasphemare ‘reproach, revile, blaspheme’, from Greek blasphēmein, from blasphēmos ‘evil-speaking’.Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
Idioms
See blame in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee blame in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishbe to blame (for something)
- to be responsible for something bad
- If anyone's to blame, it's James.
- Which driver was to blame for the accident?
- A spokesman said that bad weather was partly to blame for the delay.
don’t blame me
- (informal) used to advise somebody not to do something, when you think they will do it despite your advice
- Call her if you like, but don't blame me if she's angry.
I don’t blame you/her, etc. (for doing something)
- (informal) used to say that you think that what somebody did was reasonable and the right thing to do
- I don't blame you for getting angry. They were being unreasonable.
only have yourself to blame | have nobody/no one to blame but yourself
- used to say that you think something is somebody’s own fault
- If you lose your job, you'll only have yourself to blame.
Check pronunciation:
blame