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Definition

A person or type of person blamed by the public for various ills, as during a moral panic.

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In Context

  • "It may be true, as Fred Robinson, a senior researcher at Newcastle University said, "Many people view Mrs. Thatcher as a kind of folk devil."
  • ""Every time things become problematic we start careering towards social causes and pick on a folk devil to attribute all evil.""
  • "There is always a tendency, in the mainstream as much as the fringes, to blame real or imagined social problems on a folk devil."
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Also Said As

  • scapegoat