blamed

Blamed is the past tense and past participle of the verb blame. It denotes the act of attributing responsibility or fault to a person, action, or event. In sentences, blamed functions as the main verb in the past tense or as part of a passive construction, as in "They blamed him for the delay."

As a transitive verb, blame takes a direct object: "They blamed the manager for the delays." The present tense is blame, with the present participle blaming. In passive form, it appears as "was blamed" or "were blamed," e.g., "The driver was blamed for the accident." Blamed can also appear in adjectival use, such as "the blamed party," though in formal writing it is often clearer to rephrase to avoid ambiguity.

Usage notes: Blame expresses attribution of responsibility and can carry moral judgment. In journalism and legal contexts, careful phrasing helps avoid presuming guilt. Common collocations include "blame someone for something," "place the blame," and "the blame falls on" a person or organization. Blame can be discussed as distributive—"shared blame" or "joint blame"—or mitigated by qualifiers like "not entirely to blame" or "deserve some blame."

Etymology: The word blame derives from Old English blame, meaning "reproach" or "condemnation," and is related to similar terms in other Germanic languages.

See also: accusation, responsibility, fault, accountability, scapegoating.