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

Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham says he has got his smile back after "feeling a bit like the scapegoat" for England's failure to win Euro 2024 in the summer.

From BBC

In the succession of scapegoats chosen by the followers of this tradition of Know-Nothingism, the intelligentsia have at last in our time found a place.

From Salon

They scapegoated a USC assistant coach — costing him his job — and later had to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by this coach.

From Los Angeles Times

The Greens, on the other hand, described the bill "dog whistling that shamefully scapegoated international students for the housing crisis they did not cause".

From BBC

The industry group representing staffing firms says partners sometimes use them as scapegoats.

From New York Times

Related Words

• fall guy