as in victim
a person or thing taking the blame for others companies often use the economy as a scapegoat to avoid taking responsibility for dropping sales

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of scapegoat Our fresh polling data from approximately 100 college and university presidents in attendance at the Yale Higher Education Leadership Summit last week reveals that higher education leaders are no longer cowering as their schools are wrongly exploited as scapegoats for political grandstanding. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, TIME, 4 Feb. 2025 But for the most part, this all works out pretty neatly: Noor gets to reunite with her mother, Abbas gets to save his daughter and blame his own slip-ups on some (deserving) scapegoats, and Javad will be sent back to Iran. Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 27 Jan. 2025 In a tragic instant, Thompson became a scapegoat for the legitimate—but until now, amorphous—rage people have about America’s health-care system, in which a company’s profits can be someone else’s broken life. airmail.news, 25 Jan. 2025 Anti-immigrant sentiment is high in South Africa, where migrants are often used as scapegoats for other problems. Kate Bartlett, NPR, 18 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for scapegoat
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scapegoat
Noun
  • Newsom holds the ultimate trump card in their case, with the ability to grant clemency to the brothers whose case became a political football and was passed from one district attorney to another, becoming at-risk of becoming a victim of ongoing culture wars.
    Kevin Dolak, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Mar. 2025
  • Reporters, family members of Sigmon's victims and his lawyer will view the execution inside the same building used for all executions over the past 35 years, although prison officials say the glass separating the witness room from the death chamber is now bulletproof.
    CBS News, CBS News, 4 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • At least juveniles have an excuse: The human brain isn’t fully developed until age 25.
    Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 7 Mar. 2025
  • Canada and China have both questioned the Trump administration’s focus on fentanyl, calling it an excuse to issue his tariffs.
    William Gavin, Quartz, 5 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • They were inhabited by a handful of people and a few goats; one village had a single resident.
    Akash Kapur, Travel + Leisure, 24 Feb. 2025
  • In some formulations of the river-crossing puzzle, a farmer with a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage must cross over by boat.
    Sigal Samuel, Vox, 21 Feb. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Scapegoat.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scapegoat. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.

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