ENGLISH
REFERENCE

blamed

v.
B1 Intermediate US //ˈbɫeɪmd// UK //blˈeɪmd// blamed

v. to say or think that someone or something is responsible for something bad that happened. You use this when you want to point out who caused a problem.

v. to assign responsibility for a fault, error, or negative outcome to a specific person or cause. Transitive — requires a direct object or a prepositional phrase to indicate the target of the accusation.


SIMPLE

She blamed the heavy rain for being late to work.

CONTEXTUAL

The manager blamed the drop in sales on the recent changes to the website's checkout process.

COMPLEX

While the public blamed the central bank for the rising inflation, economists argued that global supply chain disruptions were the primary catalyst for the economic downturn.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Usage

Commonly used with the preposition 'on' (blame something on someone) or 'for' (blame someone for something).

Pitfall

He blamed to his brother for the mess.He blamed his brother for the mess.Blame is a transitive verb and takes a direct object immediately after the verb; do not use 'to' before the person being blamed.

© 2026 English Reference