scapegoat
/ˈskeɪpˌɡoʊt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.11 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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.
Example Sentences
- "And Aarõ caſt lottes ouer the .ij. gootes: one lotte for the Lorde, ãd another for a ſcapegoote."
- "[…]; alluding herein unto the heart of man, and the precious bloud of our Saviour; who was typified indeed by the Goat that was ſlain, and the ſcape Goat in the wilderneſſe;"
- "He is making me a scapegoat for his own poor business decisions and the supply chain disruptions caused by the hurricane!"
- "The new Secretary of State had been long sick of the perfidy and levity of the First Lord of the Treasury, and began to fear that he might be made a scapegoat to save the old intriguer who, imbecile as he seemed, never wanted dexterity where danger was to be avoided."
- "Corbett says Railtrack was under great pressure in the aftermath, as it was the scapegoat even though the signal had been working properly."
- "People tend to fear and then to scapegoat ... groups which seem to them to be fundamentally different from their own."
Etymology
From scape + goat; coined by English biblical scholar and translator William Tyndale, interpreting Biblical Hebrew עֲזָאזֵל (“azazél”) (Leviticus 16:8, 10, 26), from an interpretation as coming from עֵז (ez, “goat”) and אוזל (ozél, “escapes”). First attested 1530. Compare English scapegrace, scapegallows.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈskeɪpˌɡoʊt/
- British English: /ˈskeɪpˌɡəʊt/