Word of the Day Archive
Monday September 9, 2002
recrimination \rih-krim-uh-NAY-shuhn\ , noun:
1. The act of returning one charge or accusation with another.
2. An accusation brought by the accused against the accuser; a counter accusation.
Others have written about the epidemic of partisanship and lack of character in our government's elected branches and the cycle of recrimination and disaffection it has created.
-- Edward Lazarus, Closed Chambers
This news has broken the compulsive back-and-forth of our recriminations, I thought.
-- Tim Parks, Destiny
There right and wrong fought their battle with furious bitterness, and with a heat of wrath and recrimination which is as pitiful as it is fascinating to behold.
-- Gamaliel Bradford, "John Brown", The Atlantic, November 1922
Its aim is to . . . encourage a no blame culture that will enable staff to report their concerns without fear of recrimination.
-- David Batty, "Double act to head patient safety agency", The Guardian, September 12, 2001
Although Ernest Hemingway is dead so are Gertrude Stein and Scott Fitzgerald. Since they cannot defend themselves against his defamation of character in "A Moveable Feast," his death need not shield him from recrimination.
-- Brooks Atkinson, "Gertrude Stein and Scott Fitzgerald Are Defended Against Hemingway's Attack", New York Times, July 7, 1964
Recrimination is from Medieval Latin recriminatio, from the past participle of recriminare, from Latin re-, "back, again" + criminari, "to accuse," from crimen, "accusation, charge, crime." The related verb is recriminate.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for recrimination
