scapegoat

American  

[skeyp-goht] / ˈskeɪpˌgoʊt /

noun

• scapegoats
  plural

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.

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verb (used with object)

1. to make a scapegoat of.

   Strike leaders tried to scapegoat foreign competitors.

scapegoat British  

/ 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

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verb

1. (tr) to make a scapegoat of

scapegoat Cultural  

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.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• scapegoats
  plural

Etymology

Origin of scapegoat

First recorded in 1520–30; scape ² + goat

Explanation

The Bible depicts a ritual in which a goat is sent out into the desert bearing the faults of the people of Israel. The word scapegoat first occurred in the earliest English translation of the Bible, and it has come to mean any individual punished for the misdeeds of others. When a politician gets caught lying, he or she might use an assistant as a scapegoat. Somehow the lie will wind up being the assistant's fault. Your mom might tell you to use her as a scapegoat if you need to. So if your friends want you to go to a wild party and you don't want to, you should tell them your mom won't let you. That way, they will be mad at her and not at you. A fall guy is similar to a scapegoat, but it is mostly used if your scheme has been found out and one of your group of schemers must take the consequences.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scapegoat scapegoats

We aren’t victims, and we shouldn’t scapegoat other minorities or indulge in conspiracy theories.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

Plaintiff lawyers say they are being made the scapegoat for a problem of the insurers’ own making.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

He claimed he had been made a "scapegoat" after a "witch hunt" following the operation, carried out at the Royal Oldham Hospital, where he was working as a locum on 25 August 2020.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

Lawyer Giovanni Paolo Accinni, a member of his legal team, told Italian media Castellucci was nothing more than a "scapegoat" who in truth had "insisted that the pier reinforcement work be carried out".

From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026

Of course, Pacheco’s pig in certain ways had become just such a scapegoat, taking up some of the slack created by the Abuelo’s demise.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

“It’s important for them to let people know, ‘Hey, we’re here to figure out what’s going on and we’re here to correct it, not find individual scapegoats.’

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

The most commonly cited scapegoats are the social insurance programs Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

The platforms make easy scapegoats, and parents’ concerns are genuine.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

He and the government find themselves caught between an increasingly incensed public and a justice system whose magistrates and prosecutors refuse to be made scapegoats.

From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026

I should have been cursing the system, but my mom and dad were much more tangible scapegoats.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

Related Words

• fall guy