Recriminating

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Characterized by mutual accusations, this term encompasses situations where one party defends themselves by pointing fingers at the accuser
2. It denotes a context in which individuals reply to allegations with counterclaims, often resulting in a blame game
3. Engaging in the act of responding to blame by accusing the other person in return

Etymology: "Recriminating" is the present participle of "recriminate", which comes from Latin "recriminatus", the past participle of "recriminare". The Latin verb combines "re-", meaning back or in return, with "criminari", to accuse, from "crimen", a charge or crime. So the core idea is accusing someone in return, which is exactly what the English word preserves: when one party is blamed, they answer by pointing the finger back. The verb reached English with its legal sense intact. In Roman legal usage, a "recrimination" was a countercharge brought by a defendant against an accuser, so the word began life in the courtroom before spreading to ordinary quarrels. The modern sense of trading blame in a dispute keeps that same structure: the accusation is returned rather than absorbed.

Synonyms: accusing, blaming