🇬🇧 Scapegoat meaning: English Vocabulary Flash Card

To scapegoat someone means to pick a person (or even an animal or object) and say it’s their fault something bad happened, even though they didn’t really cause the problem. People scapegoat others when they don’t want to get in trouble themselves or don’t want to admit they made a mistake.

My brother scapegoated the washing machine for shrinking his shirt, instead of admitting he grew.

When my drawing looked weird, I scapegoated the crayons for having ‘bad ideas.’

I broke the lamp and immediately scapegoated gravity for pulling it down too hard.

We scapegoated the soccer ball for our losing score, insisting it liked the other team better.

People have scapegoated others for thousands of years—long ago, some even blamed actual goats for their problems, which is how the word ‘scapegoat’ got its name!

At lunch the plate fell; everyone looked at Ana. They chose to scapegoat Ana, to scapegoat her loudly, to scapegoat her again, to scapegoat her later, to scapegoat her until she cried. The cat under the chair stood up, knocked the plate, and left. Faces went quiet; people rushed to apologize, and Ana smiled through tears.

This word is at the C2 level, which means it represents the highest mastery of English. It’s often used in specialized or highly formal contexts and helps you communicate with precision and subtlety, much like a native speaker.

Expanding your English vocabulary is one of the best ways to improve your pronunciation, spelling, and confidence in English. Watch the video above to memorize the word, understand its meaning, and see example sentences in action. Discover related words to grow your vocabulary naturally. Add words to your playlist for stress-free, effective learning—anytime, anywhere! Watch, learn, repeat.