scapegoat
UK /ˈskeɪpˌɡəʊt/ · US /ˈskeɪpˌɡoʊt/ noun, verb
Forms scapegoats scapegoating scapegoated
- noun In the Mosaic Day of Atonement ritual, a goat symbolically imbued with the sins of the people, and sent out alive into the wilderness while another was sacrificed.
- noun Someone unfairly blamed or punished for some failure.
- verb (transitive, intransitive) To unfairly blame or punish someone for some failure; to make a scapegoat of.
Synonyms
fall guy patsy whipping boy sacrificial lamb escapegoat folk devil goat Joe Soap
Etymology
From scape + goat; coined by English biblical scholar and translator William Tyndale, interpreting Biblical Hebrew עֲזָאזֵל (“azazél”) (Leviticus 16:8, 10, 26), from an interpretation as coming from עֵז (ez, “goat”) and אוזל (ozél, “escapes”). First attested 1530. Compare English scapegrace, scapegallows.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A goat upon whose head were symbolically placed the sins of the people, after which he was suffered to escape into the wilderness.
- noun Hence, a person or thing that is made to bear blame for others.
Etymology [Scape (for escape) + goat.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “scapegoat”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details