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I'm looking for a word that means someone is redirecting the blame or attention of something. I have a feeling it starts with an "a" or "i", but I'm not sure.
By the way, it's not "divert", I already thought of that.
Here's an example sentence:
"The Yankees Management had instituted a way of ___ to the players..."
We're looking for long answers that provide some explanation and context. Don't just give a one-line answer; explain why your answer is right, ideally with citations. Answers that don't include explanations may be removed.
The practice of singling out a person or group for unmerited blame and consequent negative treatment (From Wiki link above)
In your context:
The Yankees Management had instituted a way of scapegoating the players...
Implicating
From American Heritage:
To involve or connect intimately or incriminatingly
or Incriminating
To cause to appear guilty of a crime or fault; implicate
(Again from American Heritage)
I have to change your sentence slightly to:
The Yankees Management had instituted a way of incriminating the players.
This would mean they had a way of making it look like the players were wrong and thus shift the blame for any wrong doing on to the players.
to pass the buck
The Yankees Management had instituted a way of passing the buck to the players.
From Collins English Dictionary:
to shift blame or responsibility onto another
This expression fits the original sentence better than "scapegoating" or "implicating". "Assigning" and "incriminating", while plausible, do not convey the idea of deflecting blame from one entity to another.
"Passing the buck" is more widely used in everyday English (American and British, written and spoken) than "blame-shifting", which is probably a psychological neologism describing a specific behavioural symptom (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection).
However, while "passing the buck" does occur frequently in highbrow journalistic writing (e.g. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/football-is-passing-the-buck-over-fan-violence-wgsj36txp), it is informal, and should not be used in official documents or academic writing.
There are only so many words that function alongside blame and which start with a or i.
As far as I can tell, you're looking for the phrase assign blame.
However, I should note that it doesn't necessarily mean deflect or divert—although it can certainly be used to accomplish that purpose.
In your example sentence:
The Yankees Management had instituted a way of assigning blame to the players...
There are multiple words and phrases you can use. Redirect blame or as Mari Lou said, shift blame (or blame-shifting). They both basically mean the same, but I would say blame-shifting has connotations that fit more with what you're looking for.
https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/shift-the-blame-responsibility-onto-somebody
Though this dictionary isn't as well established as other dictionaries, this at least shows that the example exists in one. It is a phrase, so it makes sense that it doesn't exist in every dictionary, especially those who focus more on words.
In a sports context, I would have to go with punt. From the Oxford English Dictionary (unfortunately paywalled, but the intransitive version of this sense is also quoted in this answer to Can “to punt something” mean “not to do something”?):
punt, v.3
4. N. Amer. colloq.
a. intransitive. To give up, back out; to defer or avoid taking action or responsibility, to ‘pass the buck’. [Attestations omitted]
b. transitive. To avoid, defer, or give up on. Also: to pass responsibility for (something) to.
- 1969 Cook County (Illinois) Herald 21 May 2/6 So the board decided to punt the matter over to Dist. 54.
- 1972 Odessa (Texas) Amer. 10 Sept. 16/3 What is your favorite football play?.. I think I'll punt that question.
- 1983 G. Steele et al. Hacker's Dict. 106 Let's punt the movie tonight.
- 2005 L. Leff Buried by Times viii. 258 A divided State Department punted the issue to Treasury.
This meaning, of course, developed from the practice in rugby and American football of dropping a ball and then kicking it before it hits the ground, when the player has given up on any chance of actually scoring. So you can add cross-sport insult to injury by saying:
The Yankees Management had instituted a way of punting to the players...
Following @Mari-Lou A 's suggestion of the compound noun 'blame-shifting' I would suggest the compound noun 'blame-deflecting' for two reasons.
Deflection draws attention to the act of avoidance, rather than the end process of the 'shift', which is actually the outcome of deflection.
attribute
regard something as being caused by.
"The Yankees Management had instituted a way of attributing (the poor results) to the players (effort)"
You should note that, strictly, it doesn't mean redirecting blame, but my gut feel is that this may be the word you're looking for (even if it isn't a perfect match for your needs).
Jason Bassford's excellent answer gives us the A word: assign.
The I word you're looking for might be this one: impute.
In Merriam-Webster, the first definition of impute is given as: "to lay the responsibility or blame for (something) often falsely or unjustly".
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