Definition of FALL GUY

Examples of fall guy in a Sentence

His lawyers will argue that he was set up as a fall guy for crimes he had no part in. 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

Recent Examples on the Web Herbert Stempel, a fall guy and whistleblower of early television whose confession to deliberately losing on a 1950s quiz show helped drive a national scandal and join his name in history to winning contestant Charles Van Doren, has died age 93. — Time, "Herbert Stempel, Who Blew the Whistle on Rigged 1950s Quiz Show, Dies at 93," 1 June 2020 The notes revealed an Amazon that seemed more interested in getting good press for itself — and in setting up any protesters as fall guys — than in protecting workers. — David Streitfeld, New York Times, "As Amazon Rises, So Does the Opposition," 18 Apr. 2020 Outsiders make convenient fall guys for pandemics; the Black Death led to massacres of Jews across Europe. — Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, "The Coronavirus Could Worsen Class Warfare," 15 Apr. 2020 Brown could end up being the fall guy even if there are legit reasons beyond his control. — Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY, "Opinion: Sixers playing without Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and a net and it's not good look," 28 Feb. 2020 Like many Ghost Ship residents, Brito defended Harris and Almena as fall guys for a system that failed them and those killed in the fire. — Megan Cassidy, San Francisco Chronicle, "Life after Ghost Ship," 7 Feb. 2020 Officials in Wuhan are the most obvious fall guys for the crisis, and several have already offered to resign. — James Griffiths, CNN, "China says Xi Jinping is directing its Wuhan coronavirus response, but he's nowhere to be seen," 5 Feb. 2020 Analysts said Hinrichs appeared to be a fall guy, while Hackett insisted to reporters that Hinrichs actually was an active leader in resolving problems, not overlooking them. — Phoebe Wall Howard, Detroit Free Press, "Joe Hinrichs writes to his Ford team: 'I do have one last request'," 10 Feb. 2020 With all due respect to the task facing Bob Boughner after Peter DeBoer was made the fall guy, the Sharks are simply putting a Band-Aid on miscalculations made before the season. — Ross Mckeon, SFChronicle.com, "DeBoer takes the fall, but Sharks’ shortcomings are many and not easily fixed," 13 Dec. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fall guy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.