blame
Each department sought to deflect blame onto the other.
It would be wrong to use these two junior members of staff to deflect blame away from the manager responsible.
There was no attempt at deflecting the blame and she said that she took full responsibility.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Avoiding action
abrogate
abrogation
avoid
avoid something like the plagueidiom
avoidance
end-run
eschew
evader
evasion
fiddle
fiddle around
insure
shirk
short circuit
shrink from something
shy away from something
sit on your arseidiom
steer
welch
Welsh