blameless

English

Etymology

From Middle English blameles, equivalent to blame +‎ -less.

Adjective

blameless (comparative more blameless, superlative most blameless)

1. Free from blame; without fault; innocent

   Synonym: guiltless

   • 2020, Joel Swanson, “Are anti-Semitism fears stopping Jewish Dems from supporting Bernie Sanders?”, in The Forward:

     And while American Jews do not hold the left blameless, in the age of Trump, we’re a lot more concerned about right-wing anti-Semitism.

2. Not meriting blame or censure; undeserving of reproof.
   • c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 62, lines 38–41:

     He shall be as now nameles,
     But he shall not be blameles,
     Nor he shall not be shameles;
     For sure he wrought amys, […]

Synonyms

• sackless

Derived terms

• blamelessly
• blamelessness

Translations

free from blame; without fault; innocent; guiltless

• Bulgarian: невинен (bg) (nevinen)
• Finnish: syytön (fi)
• Galician: inocente (gl)
• Hindi: निर्दोष (hi) (nirdoṣ)
• Hungarian: feddhetetlen (hu)
• Japanese: 非の打ち所が無い (ja) (hi no uchidokoro ga nai)
• Latin: innocens
• Middle English: blameles
• Norwegian: daddelfri

  Bokmål: uklanderlig

• Romanian: inocent (ro), neprihănit (ro), nevinovat (ro)
• Russian: безупре́чный (ru) (bezupréčnyj)
• Sanskrit: निर्दोष (sa) (nirdoṣa)
• Urdu: نردوش

not meriting blame or censure; undeserving of reproof

• Bulgarian: безупречен (bg) (bezuprečen)
• Finnish: nuhteeton (fi)
• Hindi: निर्दोष (hi) (nirdoṣ)
• Japanese: 非の打ち所が無い (ja) (hi no uchidokoro ga nai)
• Russian: безупре́чный (ru) (bezupréčnyj)

References

• “blameless”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “blameless”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.