Sample sentences for SCAPEGOAT

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Definition

someone blamed or punished for the errors of others

She is a convenient scapegoat because she was chosen by the last administration.

scapegoat = someone to blame for the errors of others

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

The press will continue to investigate unless we produce a scapegoat.

scapegoat = someone to blame for the errors of others

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

You threw them off at the river. They can't admit it. ... So they're sniffing for a scapegoat to end things with a bang.
Ray Bradbury -- Fahrenheit 451

scapegoat = someone to blame or punish

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

That's why they are always looking for a scapegoat, someone else to blame.
Ernest J. Gaines -- A Lesson Before Dying

scapegoat = someone blamed or punished for the errors of others

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

He's my forever scapegoat, really.
Ellen Hopkins -- Identical

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

Like the scapegoat of the Bible, place society's ills on them, then "stone them" in absolution.
Luis J. Rodriguez -- Always Running

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

His tantalizing words "I'm just a patsy" hung in the air, suggesting that he was some sort of scapegoat.
Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard -- Killing Kennedy

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

She couldn't see why Mrs. Touchett should make a scapegoat of a woman who had really done no harm, who had only done good in the wrong way.
Henry James -- The Portrait of a Lady - Volume 1

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

This didn't satisfy many people, and a second scapegoat soon emerged: the firefighters.
Jim Murphy -- The Great Fire

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

For residents of the block, support for Prop 187 wasn't a nativist reaction or scapegoating in tight economic times.
Sonia Nazario -- Enrique's Journey
If the attempt at rescue failed and more children were sacrificed than were saved, scapegoats had been set up to absorb the blame.
Robert Cormier -- After the First Death
If the poison was his doing .... well, he will need a scapegoat.
George R.R. Martin -- A Dance With Dragons

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

Well, they've chosen their scapegoat, they've made me write the column of criticism and so life was made possible.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky -- The Brothers Karamazov

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

The soldier who used Day as a convenient scapegoat.
Marie Lu -- Legend

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

No. But if it makes you feel better to think that I am one, you are welcome to use me as your scapegoat.
Robert A. Heinlein -- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

The people of Rome were sure you'd started the Great Fire, so you scapegoated the Christians."
Rick Riordan -- The Hidden Oracle
They had lived in peace, a haven for Will's sharp scapegoat pain, looking on from a distance at Millie's resounding destructions.
John Gardner -- The Sunlight Dialogues

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

This was his scapegoat; but his excitement was caused by something quite different.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky -- The Idiot

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

The Rwandan genocide was a carefully planned case of scapegoating, launched by a government of the majority against a powerless minority.
Tracy Kidder -- Strength in What Remains
Then they just made him the scapegoat, didn't they?
Ayn Rand -- Atlas Shrugged

(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)

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