scapegoat:
(plural: ‘scapegoats‘; for the right pronunciation of this word, please click here)
(a religious scapegoat)
a person who is blamed or punished for the wrong doings of another person, usually a person in a higher position or power;
(in American English) a fall guy,
a poor fellow made a scapegoat
The assistant manager is made the regular scapegoat of our office; he gets the blame and the punishment for everybody else’s failures.
When a large company fails, the management and the board of directors look for some scapegoats, usually some junior officials with very little power, to divert the public’s attention from them, and the scapegoats, in some fortunate cases, get some special benefits for being the scapegoats but in most cases, bear the blame and lose their jobs.
In politics, there is always a dearth for scapegoats as the parties utterly fail in their numerous unworthy policies, it’s almost impossible to find enough scapegoats to blame for each failure.
