Meaning & use
recriminate
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Meaning
verbintransitiveformal
To accuse someone of doing wrong after they have accused you.
Grammar: No object; often used with 'with' or 'about': They recriminated with each other.
Patterns
- recriminate with someone
- recriminate about something
After the project failed, the two managers began to recriminate with each other.
Instead of solving the problem, the committee spent the meeting recriminating about who was at fault.
She did not want to recriminate; she wanted to move forward.
Word forms
| third person singular | recriminates |
|---|---|
| past tense | recriminated |
| past participle | recriminated |
| -ing form | recriminating |
Common combinations
- recriminate with someone
- The brothers recriminated with each other for hours.
- recriminate about something
- They recriminated about the missed deadline.
- begin to recriminate
- When the money ran out, they began to recriminate.
- mutual recriminations
- The meeting ended in mutual recriminations.
Synonyms and how they differ
- counter-accuse
- More direct and less formal; it means to accuse someone in return.
- retaliate
- Focuses on returning an attack, not necessarily with words.
Word family
- recrimination noun
- The act of accusing someone who has accused you.
- recriminatory adjective
- Describing speech or behavior that involves mutual blame.
Commonly confused: recriminate or discriminate?
recriminate vs discriminate
Discriminate means to treat people unfairly or to see a difference; recriminate means to blame in return.
Practice
After the argument, the two colleagues began to ______ each other for the mistake.
Choose one answer.
Recriminate is intransitive and is followed by 'with' before a person: recriminate with each other. The other prepositions do not fit this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “recriminate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.