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scapegoat. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
scapegoat, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
scapegoat in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
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.
Pronunciation
Noun
scapegoat (plural scapegoats)
- 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.
1530 January 27 (Gregorian calendar), W[illiam] T[yndale], transl., (Tyndale Bible), Malborow , Hesse: Hans Luft , →OCLC, Leuiticus xvj:[8], folio XXIX, verso:And Aarõ caſt lottes ouer the .ij. gootes: one lotte for the Lorde, ãd another for a ſcapegoote.
1650, Thomas Browne, “Compendiously of Sundry Other Common Tenents, Concerning Minerall and Terreous Bodies, Which Examined, Prove Either False or Dubious”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: , 2nd edition, London: A Miller, for Edw Dod and Nath Ekins, , →OCLC, 2nd book, page 64:[…]; alluding herein unto the heart of man, and the precious bloud of our Saviour; who was typified indeed by the Goat that was ſlain, and the ſcape Goat in the wilderneſſe;
- Someone unfairly blamed or punished for some failure.
- Synonyms: fall guy, patsy, whipping boy; see also Thesaurus:scapegoat
- He is making me a scapegoat for his own poor business decisions and the supply chain disruptions caused by the hurricane!
1834, Thomas Babington Macaulay, William Pitt, Earl of Chatham:The new Secretary of State had been long sick of the perfidy and levity of the First Lord of the Treasury, and began to fear that he might be made a scapegoat to save the old intriguer who, imbecile as he seemed, never wanted dexterity where danger was to be avoided.
Synonyms
Translations
a goat imbued with the sins of the people
someone blamed for someone else's error(s)
- Arabic: كَبْش فِدَاء m (kabš fidāʔ)
- Armenian: քավության նոխազ (hy) (kʻavutʻyan noxaz)
- Bulgarian: изкупителна жертва f (izkupitelna žertva)
- Catalan: boc expiatori m, víctima expiatòria f
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 替死鬼 (tai3 sei2 gwai2)
- Mandarin: 替罪羊 (zh) (tìzuìyáng), 替死鬼 (zh) (tìsǐguǐ), 代罪羔羊 (zh) (dàizuì gāoyáng)
- Czech: obětní beránek m
- Danish: syndebuk (da)
- Dutch: zondebok (nl) m
- Esperanto: propeka kapro, propeka kaprino
- Faroese: syndabukkur m
- Finnish: syntipukki (fi)
- French: bouc émissaire (fr) m, chèvre émissaire (fr) f
- Georgian: განტევების ვაცი (ganṭevebis vaci)
- German: Sündenbock (de) m, Prügelknabe (de)
- Greek: αποδιοπομπαίος τράγος (el) m (apodiopompaíos trágos), εξιλαστήριο θύμα (el) n (exilastírio thýma)
- Ancient: ἀποπομπαῖος τράγος m (apopompaîos trágos)
- Hebrew: שָׂעִיר לַעֲזָאזֵל (he) m (sa'ír la'azazél)
- Hindi: बकरा (hi) m (bakrā)
- Hungarian: bűnbak (hu)
- Icelandic: blóraböggull m
- Indonesian: kambing hitam (id)
- Irish: ceap milleáin m
- Italian: capro espiatorio (it), capro emissario m
- Japanese: スケープゴート (sukēpugōto), 身代わり (ja) (みがわり, migawari), 生贄 (ja) (いけにえ, ikenie), 贖罪の山羊 (しょくざいのやぎ, shokuzai no yagi)
- Latvian: grēkāzis m
- Lithuanian: atpirkimo ožys m
- Macedonian: жр́твен ја́рец m (žŕtven járec)
- Malayalam: ബലിയാട് (ml) (baliyāṭŭ)
- Maori: uaparenga
- Marathi: बळीचा बकरा m (baḷīcā bakrā)
- Norwegian: syndebukk (no) m
- Persian: please add this translation if you can
- Polish: kozioł ofiarny (pl) m
- Portuguese: bode expiatório (pt) m
- Russian: козёл отпуще́ния m (kozjól otpuščénija), стре́лочник (ru) m (stréločnik), (whipping boy) ма́льчик для битья́ (ru) m (málʹčik dlja bitʹjá), крайний (ru) m (krajnij)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: жртвени јарац m
- Roman: žrtveni jarac m
- Spanish: cabeza de turco (es) f, chivo expiatorio (es) m
- Swedish: syndabock (sv) c
- Tagalog: bagsakan ng sisi
- Thai: แพะรับบาป (th) (pɛ́-ráp-bàap)
- Turkish: günah keçisi (tr), şamar oğlanı (tr)
- Ukrainian: козе́л відпу́щення m (kozél vidpúščennja)
- Vietnamese: bia đỡ đạn (vi)
- Welsh: bwch dihangol m
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Verb
scapegoat (third-person singular simple present scapegoats, present participle scapegoating, simple past and past participle scapegoated)
- (transitive, intransitive) To unfairly blame or punish someone for some failure; to make a scapegoat of.
1950, Rachel Davis DuBois, Neighbors in Action: A Manual for Local Leaders in Intergroup Relations, page 37:People tend to fear and then to scapegoat ... groups which seem to them to be fundamentally different from their own.
1975, Richard M. Harris, Adam Kendon, Mary Ritchie Key, Organization of Behavior in Face-to-face Interaction, page 66:They had been used for centuries to justify or rationalize the behavior of that status and conversely to scapegoat and blame some other category of people.
1992, George H.W. Bush, State of the Union Address:And I want to add, as we make these changes, we work together to improve this system, that our intention is not scapegoating and finger-pointing.
2004, Yvonne M. Agazarian, Systems-Centered Therapy for Groups, page 208:Then either the world or others or the self becomes the target for the human tendency to scapegoat.
2023 December 11, Rory Hearne, “Ireland’s housing crisis is a disaster for its people – and a gift to far-right fearmongers”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:The question we should be asking is: who benefits when migrants and refugees are scapegoated for anger about housing?
Translations
to blame or punish for the errors of others
Related terms
See also