Synonym Chooser

How is the word blamable different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of blamable are blameworthy, culpable, and guilty. While all these words mean "deserving reproach or punishment," blameworthy and blamable apply to any degree of reprehensibility.

conduct adjudged blameworthy
an accident for which no one is blamable

When could culpable be used to replace blamable?

While the synonyms culpable and blamable are close in meaning, culpable is weaker than guilty and is likely to connote malfeasance or errors of ignorance, omission, or negligence.

culpable neglect

When would guilty be a good substitute for blamable?

The words guilty and blamable are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, guilty implies responsibility for or consciousness of crime, sin, or, at the least, grave error or misdoing.

guilty of a breach of etiquette

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for blamable
Adjective
  • In September, the former newsreader was handed a six-month prison sentence suspended for two years after pleading guilty to making indecent images of children.
    Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 15 July 2025
  • Jessica Leslie agreed to plead guilty to a charge of criminal contempt that accused her of willfully disobeying court rules against disclosure of grand jury information.
    Aaron Katersky, ABC News, 15 July 2025
Adjective
  • His Stoic Challenge framework invites you to see a setback not as something terrible, blameworthy or unfair but instead as a test of your ingenuity and resilience.
    Hanna Hart, Forbes.com, 29 May 2025
  • But Miss Manners acknowledges that there is also the less blameworthy impulse to offer comfort — not just sympathy — when there is no real comfort to be offered.
    Judith Martin, The Mercury News, 11 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • The Cameroonian was culpable for several blunders last term as Manchester United suffered a dismal campaign.
    Graham Ruthven, Forbes.com, 29 June 2025
  • That assessment was part of a voluntary compliance agreement negotiated with the federal government following a two-year federal investigation that found the city culpable of steering heavy industry away from white communities and into Black and Latino communities.
    Adriana Pérez, Chicago Tribune, 17 June 2025
Adjective
  • Their reprehensible posts and videos will always be there, thanks to screenshots, and searchable by, say, potential future employers, neighbors and friends.
    Boston Herald editorial staff, Boston Herald, 8 July 2025
  • Israel’s bombing of Evin lays bare what happens when two reprehensible systems collide: one that cages the innocent, and another that claims to liberate them with bombs.
    Siamak Namazi, Time, 25 June 2025
Adjective
  • Aybar-Berroa also has a criminal history in New York City that includes arrests for second-degree reckless endangerment in May 2023 and fourth-degree felony grand larceny and petit larceny in March and April 2024, officials said.
    Landon Mion, FOXNews.com, 25 July 2025
  • He is charged with two counts of first-degree reckless homicide as a party to a crime in the teens' shooting deaths.
    Chris Ramirez, jsonline.com, 24 July 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Blamable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/blamable. Accessed 30 Jul. 2025.

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