scapegoat

Meaning

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 unfairly blamed or punished for some failure.

Verb

To unfairly blame or punish someone for some failure; to make a scapegoat of.

Synonyms

whipping boy

sacrifice

fall guy

victim

substitute

punching bag

sacrificial animal

dupe

sacrificial lamb

goat

🐐

gull

lightning rod

patsy

prey

stooge

sufferer

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈskeɪpˌɡoʊt/

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.