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.

   “And Aarõ caſt lottes ouer the .ij. gootes: one lotte for the Lorde, ãd another for a ſcapegoote.”

   “[…]; 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;”

2. Someone unfairly blamed or punished for some failure.

   “He is making me a scapegoat for his own poor business decisions and the supply chain disruptions caused by the hurricane!”

   “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.”

   “Corbett says Railtrack was under great pressure in the aftermath, as it was the scapegoat even though the signal had been working properly.”

verb

1. (intransitive, transitive)To unfairly blame or punish someone for some failure; to make a scapegoat of.

   “People tend to fear and then to scapegoat ... groups which seem to them to be fundamentally different from their own.”

   “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.”

   “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.”

   “Then either the world or others or the self becomes the target for the human tendency to scapegoat.”

   “The question we should be asking is: who benefits when migrants and refugees are scapegoated for anger about housing?”