Meaning – a person who is made to take the responsibility or blame for something they didn’t do
In Context – The managing director was fired after the scandal. He became the company’s scapegoat.
Origin – This idiom has its roots in Judaism. In the Old Testament of the Bible, a goat was cast out into the desert during the traditional ceremonies which took place on the Day of Atonement.
Idioms with a synonymous meaning – whipping boy, fall guy, to take the heat for something
QUOTES WITH “SCAPEGOAT”
I was a scapegoat. The media had to put responsibility on somebody, and I was chosen. They felt free to say that because someone was thin they were anorexic, which is ridiculous. Kate Moss
Unintelligent people always look for a scapegoat. Ernest Bevin
I think that the roots of racism have always been economic, and I think people are desperate and scared. And when you’re desperate and scared you scapegoat people. It exacerbates latent tendencies toward – well, toward racism or homophobia or anti-Semitism. Henry Louis Gates