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- Dictionaryscapegoat/ˈskeɪpɡəʊt/
noun
- 1. a person who is blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others, especially for reasons of expediency.
- 2. (in the Bible) a goat sent into the wilderness after the Jewish chief priest had symbolically laid the sins of the people upon it (Lev. 16).
verb
- 1. make a scapegoat of: "few things are harder for kids to bear than being scapegoated"
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SCAPEGOAT definition: 1. a person who is blamed for something that someone else has done: 2. a person who is blamed for…. Learn more.
The meaning of SCAPEGOAT is a goat upon whose head are symbolically placed the sins of the people after which he is sent into the wilderness in the biblical ceremony for Yom Kippur. How to use scapegoat in a sentence.
If you say that someone is made a scapegoat for something bad that has happened, you mean that people blame them and may punish them for it although it may not be their fault.
someone who is blamed or punished for another’s faults or actions: When things don’t go well, people always look for a scapegoat.
The Bible depicts a ritual in which a goat is sent out into the desert bearing the faults of the people of Israel. The word scapegoat first occurred in the earliest English translation of the Bible, and it has come to mean any individual punished for the misdeeds of others.
Definitions of 'scapegoat' 1. If you say that someone is made a scapegoat for something bad that has happened, you mean that people blame them and may punish them for it although it may not be their fault. [...] 2. To scapegoat someone means to blame them publicly for something bad that has happened, even though it was not their fault. [...] More.
scapegoat somebody/something to blame somebody/something for a failure or for something bad that another person has done. The community chose to ignore its own failings and to scapegoat her instead. Definition of scapegoat verb in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
SCAPEGOAT definition: someone who is blamed for a bad situation, although they have not caused it: . Learn more.
The earliest known use of the noun scapegoat is in the mid 1500s. OED's earliest evidence for scapegoat is from 1530, in the New Testament. scapegoat is formed within English, by compounding; modelled on a Hebrew lexical item. Etymons: scape n.1, goat n.; scape v.1, goat n. See etymology.
1. a person made to bear the blame for others. 2. (Bible) Old Testament a goat used in the ritual of Yom Kippur (Leviticus 16); it was symbolically laden with the sins of the Israelites and sent into the wilderness to be destroyed. vb. (tr) to make a scapegoat of.
