Definition

1. Verb:
   • To blame: To assign responsibility for a fault or wrong to someone else. It implies shifting the accusation or cause of a problem onto another person or thing.
   • To impute blame: A more formal sense, meaning to attribute the fault or responsibility to someone.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Anh ta đổ lỗi cho tôi về sự cố đó. (He blamed me for that incident.)
  • Đừng đổ lỗi cho hoàn cảnh. (Don't blame the circumstances.)
  • Họ thường đổ lỗi lẫn nhau khi có chuyện. (They often blame each other when something goes wrong.)

Advanced Usage

• The action of "đổ lỗi" often carries a negative connotation of avoiding personal responsibility. It is commonly used in contexts of arguments, failures, or accidents.
• It can be used with the structure "đổ lỗi cho [ai/điều gì]" (to blame [someone/something]).

Variants and Related Words

• Đỗ tội (v): To accuse, to charge with a crime. This is stronger and more specific to legal or serious moral faults.
  • Không có bằng chứng thì không thể đỗ tội cho ai. (Without evidence, you cannot accuse anyone.)

Synonyms

• Blame: To assign responsibility for a fault.
• Impute: To attribute (especially something undesirable) to a person.
• Pin on: (Informal) To assign blame to someone.

Related Idioms

• Đổ lỗi tại vì: To blame on the grounds that... (Used to introduce the reason for the blame).

  • Cô ấy đổ lỗi tại vì tôi đến muộn. (She blamed it on me being late.)

• Đổ lỗi cho trời: To blame fate or heaven; to blame an uncontrollable external force.

  • Thất bại này không thể đổ lỗi cho trời được. (This failure cannot be blamed on fate.)

1. Impute the blame (to someone)