What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Duty vs Blame - What's the difference?

duty | blame |

As an adjective duty

is hollow (having an empty space inside).

As a verb blame is

.

duty

English

Noun

(duties)
  • That which one is morally or legally obligated to do.
  • :
  • *1805 , 21 October,
  • *:England expects that every man will do his duty .
  • *
  • *:Captain Edward Carlisle; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty , cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
  • , passage=Charles had not been employed above six months at Darracott Place, but he was not such a whopstraw as to make the least noise in the performance of his duties when his lordship was out of humour.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist), author=Lexington
  • , title= Keeping the mighty honest , passage=British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.}}
  • A period of time spent at work or doing a particular task.
  • :
  • Describing a workload as to its idle, working and de-energized periods.
  • A tax placed on imports or exports; a tariff.
  • (lb) One's due, something one is owed; a debt or fee.
  • *1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , (w) XX:
  • *:Take that which is thy duty , and goo thy waye.
  • (lb) Respect; reverence; regard; act of respect; homage.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:my duty to you
  • The efficiency of an engine, especially a steam pumping engine, as measured by work done by a certain quantity of fuel; usually, the number of pounds of water lifted one foot by one bushel of coal (94 lbs. old standard), or by 1 cwt. (112 lbs., England, or 100 lbs., United States).
  • Usage notes

    * Adjectives often used with "duty": public, private, moral, legal, social, double, civic, contractual, political, judicial, etc.

    Synonyms

    * (that which one is obligated to do) obligation

    Antonyms

    * duty-free (taxes) * (that which one is obligated to do) right

    Derived terms

    * active duty * chimney-duty * civic duty * death duty * Delivered Duty Paid * Delivered Duty Unpaid * dutiable * dutiful * duty-bound * duty calls * duty cycle * duty of care * estate duty * excise duty * export duty * fatigue duty * fiduciary duty * filial duty * heavy-duty * import duty * jury duty * legal duty * light-duty * line of duty * neglect duty * on duty * off duty * point duty * sea duty/sea-duty * shore duty * stamp duty * succession duty * tonnage duty * tour of duty

    Statistics

    *

    blame

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl), from (etyl)

    Noun

    (-)
  • Censure.
  • Blame came from all directions.
  • Culpability for something negative or undesirable.
  • The blame for starting the fire lies with the arsonist.
  • Responsibility for something meriting censure.
  • They accepted the blame , but it was an accident.
    Derived terms
    * put the blame on
    See also
    * fault

    Etymology 2

    (etyl), from (etyl) blasmer, from . Compare (blaspheme)

    Verb

    (blam)
  • To censure (someone or something); to criticize.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.ii:
  • though my loue be not so lewdly bent, / As those ye blame , yet may it nought appease / My raging smart [...].
  • *
  • These peculiarities of Dorothea's character caused Mr. Brooke to be all the more blamed in neighboring families for not securing some middle-aged lady as guide and companion to his nieces.
  • * 1919 , (Saki), ‘The Oversight’, The Toys of Peace :
  • That was the year that Sir Richard was writing his volume on Domestic Life in Tartary . The critics all blamed it for a lack of concentration.
  • * 2006 , Clive James, North Face of Soho , Picador 2007, p. 106:
  • I covered the serious programmes too, and indeed, right from the start, I spent more time praising than blaming .
  • (obsolete) To bring into disrepute.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.viii:
  • For knighthoods loue, do not so foule a deed, / Ne blame your honour with so shamefull vaunt / Of vile reuenge.
  • To assert or consider that someone is the cause of something negative; to place blame, to attribute responsibility (for something negative or for doing something negative).
  • The arsonist was blamed for the fire.
    Synonyms
    * reproach, take to task, upbraid * (consider that someone is the cause of something negative) hold to account
    Derived terms
    * blamer