What does scapegoat mean?
Definitions for scapegoat
ˈskeɪpˌgoʊtscape·goat
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word scapegoat.
Princeton's WordNet
scapegoat, whipping boynoun
someone who is punished for the errors of others
Wiktionary
scapegoatnoun
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.
scapegoatnoun
Someone punished for the error or errors of someone else.
He is making me a scapegoat.
scapegoatverb
To punish someone for the error or errors of someone else; to make a scapegoat of.
scapegoatverb
To blame something for the problems of a given society without evidence to back up the claim.
Wikipedia
Scapegoat
In the Bible, a scapegoat is one of a pair of kid goats that is released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities, while the other is sacrificed. The concept first appears in the Book of Leviticus, in which a goat is designated to be cast into the desert to carry away the sins of the community. Then Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and sending it away into the wilderness by means of someone designated for the task. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a barren region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness. Practices with some similarities to the scapegoat ritual also appear in Ancient Greece and Ebla.
ChatGPT
scapegoat
A scapegoat is a person or group unjustly blamed for something or made to bear the blame for the mistakes or faults of others. The term has its origins in ancient Jewish customs, where a goat was symbolically burdened with the sins of the people then driven into the wilderness in an act of atonement.
Webster Dictionary
Scapegoatnoun
a goat upon whose head were symbolically placed the sins of the people, after which he was suffered to escape into the wilderness
Scapegoatnoun
hence, a person or thing that is made to bear blame for others
Etymology: [Scape (for escape) + goat.]
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Scapegoat
skāp′gōt, n. a goat on which, once a year, the Jewish high-priest laid symbolically the sins of the people, and which was then allowed to escape into the wilderness (Levit. xvi.): one who is made to bear the misdeeds of another. [Escape and goat.]
Matched Categories
Usage in printed sourcesFrom:
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Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of scapegoat in Chaldean Numerology is: 8
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of scapegoat in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6
Examples of scapegoat in a Sentence
Animals used to provide a lowlife way to kill and get away with it, as they do still, but, more intriguingly, for some people they are an aperture through which wounds drain. The scapegoat of olden times, driven off for the bystanders sins, has become a tender thing, a running injury. There, running away is me: hurt it and you are hurting me.
The salmon population is in great decline and recreational, commercial and tribal fishermen are looking at sea lions as a scapegoat.
Clearly there are problems at NOAA and NWS, but Mr. Jiron should not be the scapegoat for NOAA's broader problems.
I will not allow Bridget Anne Kelly to be the scapegoat in this case, and I look very much forward to the appeal.
After three years of (HP CEO) Meg Whitman's stonewalling, is this it?, hP's claim is finally laid bare for what it is -- a desperate search for a scapegoat for its own errors and incompetence.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
References
Translations for scapegoat
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- كبش فداءArabic
- obětní beránekCzech
- syndebukDanish
- Prügelknabe, SündenbockGerman
- αποδιοπομπαίος τράγος, εξιλαστήριο θύμαGreek
- propeka kaproEsperanto
- chivo expiatorio, cabeza de turcoSpanish
- ahuntz-buruBasque
- syntipukki, sysätä, syyFinnish
- utiliser, quelqu'un, faire, bouc émissaireFrench
- שעיר לעזאזלHebrew
- bűnbakHungarian
- kambing hitamIndonesian
- blóraböggullIcelandic
- capro emissario, capro espiatorio, fare da capro espiatorioItalian
- 贖罪の山羊, スケープゴート, 生贄, 身代わりJapanese
- SënnebockLuxembourgish, Letzeburgesch
- atpirkimo ožysLithuanian
- grēkāzisLatvian
- uaparengaMāori
- zondebokDutch
- syndebukkNorwegian
- kozioł ofiarnyPolish
- [[fazer]] [[de]] [[bode expiatório]], bode expiatórioPortuguese
- козел отпущения, делать козлом отпущения, стре́лочник, мальчик для битья, козёл отпуще́нияRussian
- жртвени јарац, žrtveni jarac, жртвено јање, žrtveno janjeSerbo-Croatian
- syndabockSwedish
- แพะรับบาปThai
- şamar oğlanı, günah keçisiTurkish
- козел відпущенняUkrainian
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"scapegoat." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Oct. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/scapegoat>.
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