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’.
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