Meaning & use
scapegoat
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Meanings
nouncountable
A person who is blamed for the mistakes or bad actions of others, often unfairly.
Grammar: Countable; use a scapegoat, the scapegoat, or scapegoats for several people.
Patterns
- make someone a scapegoat
- use someone as a scapegoat
- find a scapegoat for something
When the project failed, the manager became the scapegoat for the whole team's errors.
Politicians often look for a scapegoat when the economy slows down.
She refused to be the scapegoat for decisions she had not made.
verbtransitive
To blame someone unfairly for a problem that was caused by others.
Grammar: Takes an object: scapegoat someone. Often used in the passive: be scapegoated.
Patterns
- scapegoat someone for something
- be scapegoated by someone
The company scapegoated the junior accountant for the fraud committed by senior staff.
He felt he had been scapegoated for a mistake that was not his.
Word forms
| plural | scapegoats |
|---|---|
| third person singular | scapegoats |
| past tense | scapegoated |
| past participle | scapegoated |
| -ing form | scapegoating |
Common combinations
- make a scapegoat of someone
- The media made a scapegoat of the young athlete.
- use someone as a scapegoat
- They used the intern as a scapegoat for the missing files.
- find a scapegoat
- The board was quick to find a scapegoat for the losses.
- scapegoat someone for something
- Don't scapegoat me for your own poor planning.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fall guy
- Fall guy is informal and often suggests someone who takes the blame willingly or is set up; scapegoat is more neutral and can be used in formal contexts.
- patsy
- Patsy is informal and implies someone easily tricked into taking blame; scapegoat focuses on the unfair blaming itself.
Word family
- scapegoating noun
- The act of blaming someone unfairly for others' mistakes.
Commonly confused: scapegoat or escape goat?
scapegoat vs escape goat
A common misspelling or mishearing; the correct word is 'scapegoat'.
Practice
After the scandal, the CEO ______ the finance director for the illegal payments.
Choose one answer.
The sentence needs a past tense verb to match the time of the scandal, so 'scapegoated' is correct. 'Scapegoat' is the base form and does not fit the past tense context.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “scapegoat”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.