scapegoat: Meaning and Definition of

scape•goat

Pronunciation: (skāp'gōt"), [key]
— n.
  1. a person or group made to bear the blame for others or to suffer in their place.
  2. a goat let loose in the wilderness on Yom Kippur after the high priest symbolically laid the sins of the people on its head. Lev. 16:8,10,26.
—v.t.
  1. to make a scapegoat of: Strike leaders tried to scapegoat foreign competitors.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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