To Blame
To Criticize, To Reproach, To Accuse
transitive verb, ichidan verb
Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means blame so this also means to blame. Additionally, this can also mean to criticize, to reproach, or to accuse.
Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you:
Are you going to blame me for eating your celery (せ)? You should know I'm the wrong person to blame because I don't even like celery!
「自分でちゃんとチェックするべきだったよ。」「そんなに自分を責めないで。あなたのせいじゃないわよ。」
"I should have checked it out myself." "Don’t blame yourself. It wasn’t your fault."
台風で電車のダイヤが混乱してただけなんだから、マイケルさんを責めるのはおかしいよ。
The typhoon disrupted the train schedule, so blaming Michael is unreasonable.
子どもが熱を出したんだけど、判断を誤って病院に連れて行かなかったら肺炎になっちゃってね。後で妻からひどく責められたよ。
Our kid had a fever, but I messed up and didn't take him to the hospital, so he ended up with pneumonia. My wife later reproached me harshly.