Dictionary
scape•goat
Pronunciation: (skāp'gōt"), [key]—
n.
1. a person or group made to bear the blame for others or to suffer in their place.
2. Chiefly Biblical.a goat let loose in the wilderness on Yom Kippur after the high priest symbolically laid the sins of the people on its head. Lev. 16:8,10,26.
—
v.t.
to make a scapegoat of:
Strike leaders tried to scapegoat foreign competitors. Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.