SCAPEGOAT

Scapegoat

In modern usage a scapegoat is an individual, group, or country singled out for unmerited negative treatment or blame. A whipping boy, "fall guy" or "patsy" is a form of scapegoat.

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scapegoat

Noun

  1. 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.
  2. Someone punished for the error or errors of someone else.
    He is making me a scapegoat.

Verb

  1. To punish someone for the error or errors of someone else; to make a scapegoat of.
    Don't scapegoat me for your mistake.
  2. To blame something for the problems of a given society without evidence to back up the claim.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: scapegoat
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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