scapegoat
scapegoat Lexical Profile
scapegoat Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A person or group unfairly made to bear the blame for the mistakes, failures, or wrongdoings of others, often to deflect criticism from those truly responsible.
"The junior manager was used as a scapegoat for the company's disastrous financial quarter."
In biblical Jewish ritual on the Day of Atonement, a live goat over whose head the high priest confessed the sins of the people before sending it out into the wilderness.
"According to the book of Leviticus, the scapegoat carried the iniquities of the community into a solitary land."
• verb
To cast unfair blame upon a person or group for the errors, problems, or misdeeds of others.
"Critics argued that the administration had scapegoated low-level staff to cover up systemic failures."
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in 1530 by William Tyndale in his translation of the Bible (Leviticus 16) as a literal rendering of the Hebrew word 'azazel', which he interpreted as 'the goat that escapes'. In the ancient Day of Atonement ritual, one goat was sacrificed and another was symbolically loaded with the sins of the people and sent out into the wilderness.