scapegoat

[ skeyp-goht ]

/ ˈskeɪpˌgoʊt /

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See synonyms for: scapegoat / scapegoats on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person or group made to bear the blame for others or to suffer in their place.

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)

to make a scapegoat of: Strike leaders tried to scapegoat foreign competitors.

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Origin of scapegoat

First recorded in 1520–30; scape² + goat

Words nearby scapegoat

scantling, scantlings, scanty, Scapa Flow, scape, scapegoat, scapegoatism, scapegrace, scape wheel, scapho-, scaphocephalic

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use scapegoat in a sentence

Growing up in the nineties, I saw California governor Pete Wilson attack immigrants with rhetoric that depicted them as scapegoats for America’s social and economic problems and with public policies like the infamous Proposition 187.
Why I Mountain-Bike for My Mental Health|smurguia|August 16, 2021|Outside Online
A resurgence or continuation of the pandemic may also result in leaders seeking to distract their people the old fashioned way, by finding scapegoats and through nationalism.
The Pandemic Is a $50 Billion Test That Rich Countries Are Failing|David Rothkopf|July 22, 2021|The Daily Beast
After Valencia left, she worried that the city’s response to Congress over facial recognition two years prior would come back to haunt her — and she feared becoming the scapegoat.
San Diego Held Back Materials Sought by Congress on Facial Recognition|Jesse Marx|May 3, 2021|Voice of San Diego
They’ve been a frequent scapegoat during economic woes and disease outbreaks, and in wartime propaganda.
Asian American businesses are defending themselves against rise in anti-Asian violence|Tracy Jan|March 25, 2021|Washington Post

The combination of affective polarization, racism, inequality, isolation and mistrust has radicalized a meaningful minority of the nation, making it easy to find scapegoats and boogeymen.
Our Radicalized Republic|Maggie Koerth (maggie.koerth-baker@fivethirtyeight.com)|January 25, 2021|FiveThirtyEight
They are vouching for Shadman, saying he is a scapegoat of a shoddy investigation.
Special Forces’ $77M ‘Hustler’ Hits Back|Kevin Maurer|December 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Smith, the current police chief, called Lee a “scapegoat” who was “thrown to the wolves” to satisfy political critics.
Florida Cops on What Ferguson Can Learn From Trayvon|Chris Francescani|November 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And, as in countless other countries (Uganda, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria), LGBT people are a convenient scapegoat.
Egypt’s LGBTs Fight Grindr Crackdown|Jay Michaelson|October 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Contending that he was being used as a scapegoat, Palmer asked for a trade.
Will the Real Jim Palmer Please Stand Up|Tom Boswell|September 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Instead, as the Democratic party proliferates a “war on women,” they choose Akin as the sole scapegoat.
It Sounds Like Todd Akin Only Wants to Talk About Rape|Gideon Resnick|July 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He felt himself "accursed by all," the "scapegoat on whom all the faults of Israel will be heaped with a curse."
The Life of Mazzini|Bolton King
For a time Tommy Kerr, who had been twice run in, had served as a scapegoat, but that was little permanent help.
Mushroom Town|Oliver Onions
The squatter had been the scapegoat upon which had been heaped the sins of a girl no one had thought capable of doing wrong.
Tess of the Storm Country|Grace Miller White
It came to nothing, but gave him as a scapegoat to the revilings of those with whom soldiers had become so unpopular.
Thirty Years in Australia|Ada Cambridge
He pulled the unresisting scapegoat out of his chair and hustled him to the rear of the office.
Blow The Man Down|Holman Day

British Dictionary definitions for scapegoat

scapegoat

/ (ˈskeɪpˌɡəʊt) /

noun

a person made to bear the blame for others

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

(tr) to make a scapegoat of

Word Origin for scapegoat

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for scapegoat

scapegoat

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.

scapegoat

Origin of scapegoat

Words nearby scapegoat

Words related to scapegoat

How to use scapegoat in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for scapegoat

Word Origin for scapegoat

Cultural definitions for scapegoat