scapegoat
/ˈskeɪpˌɡoʊt/ noun C1- 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.
- 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!
Plural scapegoats
From the library
Phillips’s brief reforming energy was over; he didn’t want the bother of punishing a dozen pupils; but it was necessary to do something to save his word, so he looked about for a scapegoat and found it in Anne, who had dropped into her seat, gasping for breath, with a forgotten lily wreath hanging askew over one ear and giving her a particularly rakish and disheveled appearance.
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