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What is a one-word synonym for "to accept blame"?
For example:
By signing the Treaty of Versailles, Germany accepted blame for World War I.
The synonym should be similar to "to accept responsibility," but should have the negative connotation associated with "blame."
Edit: It should also insinuate reluctance on behalf of the acceptor.
[Merriam-Webster]
transitive
1 : to tell or make known (something, such as something wrong or damaging to oneself) : ADMIT
// he confessed his guiltintransitive
1 a : to disclose one's faults
specifically : to unburden one's sins or the state of one's conscience to God or to a priest …
2 : ADMIT, OWN
// confess to a crime
However, the example sentence has to be rephrased slightly:
By signing the Treaty of Versailles, Germany confessed their role in World War I.
Confessions can be entirely voluntary, reluctantly made, or even forced:
An informal expression that implies reluctance is fess up:
[Merriam-Webster]
chiefly US, informal
: to admit that one has done something wrong : CONFESS
// At first he denied everything, but eventually he fessed up.
// He finally fessed up about his involvement.thesaurus entry
1 to accept the truth or existence of (something) usually reluctantly
// he fessed up to breaking the antique vase only after his guilt was obvious
Note that this is likely too informal to be used in the example sentence in the question.
Shoulder perfectly fits here.
Shoulder (verb):
Shoulder the blame, burden, responsibility, cost, etc.
To accept that you are responsible for something bad or difficultExample: Teachers cannot be expected to shoulder all the blame for poor exam results
[Cambridge English Dictionary]
In your example, you could replace 'accept' with 'shoulder':
By signing the Treaty of Versailles, Germany shouldered the blame for World War I.
It should also insinuate reluctance on behalf of the acceptor.
Acquiesce means to accept reluctantly but it would be strange to use acquiesce in this context because acquiesce does not often have the connotations of blame.
Incriminate or inculpate (oneself)
I don't believe there is a single word in English that can meet all of those conditions, but this is the closest thing I can think of. "Incriminate" doesn't necessarily work outside of a legal context, which is why I would generally prefer "inculpate", but I've never actually seen that word used before - it sounds sort of awkward and artificial, even though it isn't too hard to derive by analogy with "exculpate", a word that actually does see ordinary use.
Also, both of these are actions that could be done to someone else; to make it reflexive you'd have to add the prefix "self-", as in "self-incriminate", but this carries the unwanted connotation of accidentally revealing one's involvement in the matter, while your example is clearly looking for a word that indicates deliberate admission of guilt.
All in all, I think you're better off with "accept/admit + [noun]" (blame, responsibility, guilt, culpability, etc.) instead of a single word.
is a colloquial near equivalent, although it has the difference that it suggests that the person admitting guilt may not actually be the culprit, but be protecting someone else.
