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scapegoat

scape·goat [ skáyp gt ]


noun  (plural scape·goats)
Definition:
 
somebody made to take blame: somebody who is made to take the blame for others



transitive verb  (past and past participle scape·goat·ed, present participle scape·goat·ing, 3rd person present singular scape·goats)
Definition:
 
make somebody take blame: to force somebody to take the blame for others

[Mid-16th century. <scape2; because in Jewish ritual the goat, having had the sins of the people symbolically laid on it, was allowed to "escape" into the desert]
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