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scapegoat

UK/ˈskeɪpˌɡəʊt/US/ˈskeɪpˌɡoʊt/
nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,995 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: scapegoats

A scapegoat is somebody blamed for what others did. Make a scapegoat of him, find a scapegoat, the usual scapegoat.

The whole point is that the blame is misplaced, so nobody is a scapegoat for their own fault. The original was a real goat, driven into the desert carrying the sins of the people.

Jules & Jenny from Lincoln, UK · CC BY 2.0

Definitions of scapegoat

  1. 1nounscapegoatSomebody blamed for what others did.B2+

    “The junior clerk was made the scapegoat for a decision taken upstairs.”

scapegoat is a person.

Where it comes from

William Tyndale coined scapegoat, escape plus goat, for the goat sent into the wilderness in Leviticus bearing the people's sins.

  1. hbo

    עֲזָאזֵל — azazél

  2. English, today

    scapegoat

Built from

  • עֵז · Hebrew — goat
  • אוזל · Hebrew — escapes

From scape + goat; coined by William Tyndale, interpreting hbo עֲזָאזֵל (“azazél”) (Leviticus 16:8, 10, 26), from an interpretation as coming from עֵז (“goat”) and אוזל (“escapes”). First attested 1530. Compare English scapegrace, scapegallows.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

scapegoat in the wild

  • In the Hebrew Bible, the name Azazel represents a desolate place where a scapegoat bearing the sins of the Jews was sent during Yom Kippur.

    Azazel

  • A scapegoat may be an adult, child, sibling, employee, or peer, or it may be an ethnic, political or religious group, or a country.

    Scapegoating

  • While scapegoating mainly centers around blame, buck passing revolves around passing responsibility between individuals.

    Scapegoating

  • The Scapegoat is a painting by William Holman Hunt which depicts the "scapegoat" described in the Book of Leviticus.

    The Scapegoat (painting)

  • A scapegoat is a goat used in a religious ritual or the victim of scapegoating, the singling out of a party for unmerited blame.

    Scapegoat (disambiguation)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.