козёл отпущения — meaning in English
kozyol otpushcheniya
Russian → English · translate English → Russian instead
English meaning
- scapegoat noun A person blamed for a problem or failure that was not really their fault, often to protect others.
Senses
козёл отпущения is used for these senses in English:
- fall guy (informal, sometimes, derogatory) A scapegoat.
- lightning rod (figuratively) A person or thing that is a target for negative reactions and distracts criticism from another target.
- scapegoat In the Mosaic Day of Atonement ritual, a goat symbolically imbued with the sins of the people, and sent out alive into the wilderness while another was sacrificed.
- scapegoat Someone unfairly blamed or punished for some failure.
- whipping boy (transferred sense) Someone punished for the errors of others.
scapegoat — full definition
- noun A person blamed for a problem or failure that was not really their fault, often to protect others.
- verb To unfairly blame someone for a failure.