Associations to the word «Scapegoat»

Wiktionary

SCAPEGOAT, 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.
SCAPEGOAT, noun. Someone punished for the error or errors of someone else.
SCAPEGOAT, verb. (transitive) To punish someone for the error or errors of someone else; to make a scapegoat of.
SCAPEGOAT, verb. (transitive) To blame something for the problems of a given society without evidence to back up the claim.

Dictionary definition

SCAPEGOAT, noun. Someone who is punished for the errors of others.

Wise words

Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society.
John Adams