as in victim
a person or thing taking the blame for others
the sandlot ball players wanted the littlest kid to be the fall guy for the broken window, figuring that he'd have the best chance of escaping punishment
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fall guy
In the end, the biggest loser on Sunday was neither United Russia nor Putin, but rather his fall guy, Medvedev.
—
Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, Foreign Affairs, 8 Dec. 2011
And when his former leading man, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), accidentally kills Colt’s replacement stunt man, Ryder and his unsavory producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) hatch a plan to make Colt the literal fall guy.
—Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 May 2024
In The Fall Guy, Ryan Gosling plays Colt Seavers, the titular fall guy, which is an industry term for stunt man.
—Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 May 2024
The irony was that Mayorkas, who had witnessed the surge in unaccompanied minors in 2014, as Deputy Secretary, was perhaps the least convenient fall guy.
—Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker, 17 Feb. 2024
See All Example Sentences for fall guy
Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, Foreign Affairs, 8 Dec. 2011
And when his former leading man, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), accidentally kills Colt’s replacement stunt man, Ryder and his unsavory producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) hatch a plan to make Colt the literal fall guy.
—Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 May 2024
In The Fall Guy, Ryan Gosling plays Colt Seavers, the titular fall guy, which is an industry term for stunt man.
—Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 May 2024
The irony was that Mayorkas, who had witnessed the surge in unaccompanied minors in 2014, as Deputy Secretary, was perhaps the least convenient fall guy.
—Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker, 17 Feb. 2024
See All Example Sentences for fall guy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fall guy
Noun
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Authorities struggled to identify and process all of the victims.—
arkansasonline.com,
arkansasonline.com,
16 Mar. 2025
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Paying ransoms does not guarantee a return to normal business operations, and 35% of victims who paid a ransom, according to the in-house analysis of data, either did not receive decryption keys or received corrupted keys.—
Davey Winder,
Forbes,
16 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Luckily, Rag & Bone’s hidden sale on Gilt, a low-key site with discounts on designer finds, is a great excuse to start a spring closet cleanout.—
Melony Forcier,
People.com,
20 Mar. 2025
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Now, with all this money invested in his side of the ball — with more to come in the draft — the reasonable excuses will vanish.—
Mike Kaye,
Charlotte Observer,
19 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Once more, Turkey seems to have become a whipping boy for all manner of interests, some of which have little to do with the realities of Turkey itself.—
Hugh Pope,
Foreign Affairs,
21 Oct. 2010
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The Republicans and their puppet master, Donald Trump, are ginning up the machine against immigration and making Mayorkas their whipping boy for chaos at the border.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
18 Apr. 2024
Noun
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The wise-cracking goat escorts the teen on a journey to search for the afikomen, traveling back through layers of seders past, to the original biblical Exodus night.—
Penny Schwartz,
Sun Sentinel,
6 Mar. 2025
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Muslims mark the event by slaughtering sheep or goats.—
Reuters,
CNN,
27 Feb. 2025
Noun
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With his hefty contract still on the payroll, he’s also become a scapegoat for parent company Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment’s recent decision to layoff 80 employees.—
Ian Nicholas Quillen,
Forbes,
11 Mar. 2025
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Clearly Trump is using the protesters as a scapegoat for his wider agenda fighting and attacking higher education and the Ivy League education system.—
Jonathan Allen,
USA TODAY,
9 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fall guy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fall%20guy. Accessed 26 Mar. 2025.
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