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

It accused the party of "scapegoating refugees, asylum seekers, Muslims, Jews and others who do not fit their beliefs".

From BBC

Diego Fagúndez, who captained the Galaxy against Houston and scored the team’s only goal Saturday in his 400th MLS appearance, agrees the team needs to stop looking for scapegoats and start looking for solutions.

From Los Angeles Times

Instead, populism has become a movement driven by the extreme right, whereby social division and scapegoating are camouflaged as something else.

From Salon

And in one of the cruelest turns, fans would forever blame Ono—would scapegoat her—for breaking up The Beatles.

From Salon

It’s looking increasingly likely that the longer Trump waits to come up with a viable scapegoat the more he risks getting some of the mess on his own clothes.

From Salon

Related Words

• fall guy