scapegoat

[ skeyp-goht ]

noun

1. a person or group made to bear the blame for others or to suffer in their place.
2. Chiefly Biblical. a goat let loose in the wilderness on Yom Kippur after the high priest symbolically laid the sins of the people on its head. Leviticus 16:8,10,26.

verb (used with object)

1. to make a scapegoat of:

   Strike leaders tried to scapegoat foreign competitors.

scapegoat

/ ˈskeɪpˌɡəʊt /

noun

1. a person made to bear the blame for others
2. Old Testament a goat used in the ritual of Yom Kippur (Leviticus 16); it was symbolically laden with the sins of the Israelites and sent into the wilderness to be destroyed

verb

1. tr to make a scapegoat of

scapegoat

1. A person or group that is made to bear blame for others. According to the Old Testament , on the Day of Atonement , a priest would confess all the sins of the Israelites over the head of a goat and then drive it into the wilderness, symbolically bearing their sins away.

Word History and Origins

Origin of scapegoat¹

First recorded in 1520–30; scape ² + goat

Word History and Origins

Origin of scapegoat¹

C16: from escape + goat , coined by William Tyndale to translate Biblical Hebrew azāzēl (probably) goat for Azazel, mistakenly thought to mean ``goat that escapes''

Example Sentences

She ends up being the scapegoat sometimes because people who are in charge are just going to be the scapegoat.

From Los Angeles Times

Meanwhile "Weekend Update" host Colin Jost is quick to throw his news co-host Michael Che under the bus as a possible scapegoat.

From Salon

Humanity loves a scapegoat, especially one that doesn’t implicate the rest of us.

From Slate

Sancho immediately responded on social media by saying he was being made "a scapegoat".

From BBC

“That’s the thing. She’s just a scapegoat.”

From Salon

Related Words

• fall guy