to blame

to blame

Responsible for or the cause of (something); deserving of blame or reprisal (for something). I heard that slippery roads were to blame for the accident here this morning. We know you are to blame for the disappearing office supplies, Jake.
See also: blame
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

to blame

1. Deserving censure or disapproval; at fault: an investigation to determine who was to blame for the leak.
2. Being the cause or source of something: A freak storm was to blame for the power outage.
See also: blame
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
See also:
  • be to blame
  • to blame, be
  • lay the blame on
  • lay the blame on (one)
  • the finger of blame
  • more sinned against than sinner
  • more sinned against than sinning
  • place the blame for (something) on (someone or something)
  • place the blame on (someone or something) for (something)
  • place the blame on (someone or something)
References in periodicals archive
'Is it not laughable that 'Baba Go Slow' has got people to blame for the snail speed of his government?
Like any norm-governed practice, one can cease to blame appropriately or inappropriately, successfully or unsuccessfully.
At the same time, Republicans are far more likely to blame Bush than Democrats are to blame Obama (44% vs.
If anyone could've been tempted to blame others, it would've been one of the region's most celebrated CEOs who'd made a few very costly blunders - to the tune of billions of dollars.
I've just learned that it is the action that matters, not the need to blame.
Think how much more you could accomplish in your life if, instead of going over and over why someone or something else is to blame, you used your mind to start thinking of the solution to the problem.
Yet it is possible to blame someone whom one has not met personally.
When things go very badly, it is all too common for God to be blamed--"It's all in God's plan," "God is testing me," "The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away." In Poor Old God, He Always Gets the Blame, author Arlene Claire Cartwright dares to take the role of His defense attorney, and questions whether He really is to blame for everything that goes wrong.
OUR PERMISSIVE SOCIETY IS TO BLAME FOR THESE ATTACKS...
Fliss tended to blame the "Indian industry" comprised of lawyers, bureaucrats, consultants, researchers, and others who make a living off aboriginal affairs, as having fuelled the enormous cost of the settlement which includes $80 million for legal fees.
Adam's immediate reaction to God's challange about his sir was to blame Eve.
London -- Social worker Lisa Arthurworrey was cleared of mis conduct related to the murder of a child and her superiors in the social services department of the social services in the Borough of Haringey who held her to blame are now facing public scorn and criticism.
We, the general public, are to blame for wanting round-the-clock opening
CORRECTION: There is a growing, unsettling predisposition among environmental extremists with polemical axes to grind to blame mankind in general and industrial development in particular for natural disasters.
We look for someone, something, to blame, to take responsibility for the upset of our lives, our hopes, our dreams.