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

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

If something went awry, as things generally did, Jobs would find a scapegoat to eviscerate, preferably in front of everyone else.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 2026

Is it actually dangerous for kids, or a scapegoat for a larger problem?

From Slate ● May 17, 2026

When policies fail and public support craters, authoritarian regimes inevitably seek a scapegoat.

From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2026

There was always one unfortunate whom the teacher singled out and used for a scapegoat.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

"I understand that populism is spreading all over the world and that people are trying to look for scapegoats, they're angry," he said.

From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2026

The temptation to find corporate scapegoats for social ills is great.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026

He and editor Andy Jurgensen keep the tenor strictly rat-a-tat, so his riskiest choice is that he trusts we’ll feel awful about these scapegoats even without close-ups of teary faces behind bars.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2025

Among the many scapegoats chosen were elderly women living alone, who were charged with witchcraft: Kepler’s mother was carried away in the middle of the night in a laundry chest.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Related Words

• fall guy