/ ˈskeɪpgəʊt; NAmE -goʊt/ noun
a person who is blamed for sth bad that sb else has done or for some failure
SYN fall guy :
She felt she had been made a scapegoat for her boss's incompetence.
► scape·goat verb [ vn ]
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WORD ORIGIN
mid 16th cent.: from archaic scape escape + goat .