From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishI don’t blame you/you can hardly blame him etcI don’t blame you/you can hardly blame him etcspokenCRITICIZE# used to say that you think it was right or reasonable for someone to do what they did ‘She’s left her husband.’ ‘I don’t blame her, after the way he treated her.’ You can hardly blame him for not waiting. → blame