sacrificial lamb

noun

: someone or something that is deliberately sacrificed to promote a cause or for the benefit of others

… has become the sacrificial lamb to deflect criticism about exaggerated charges used to make the case for war on Iraq.

—John Diamond

Yet some women complain that they are recruited as sacrificial lambs to fill out tickets against incumbents regarded as unbeatable.

—Patricia A. Avery

Examples of sacrificial lamb in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And right now, regardless of what Hegseth and Rubio may say, U.S. policy in Asia is the sacrificial lamb. —Daniel Depetris, Chicago Tribune, 27 May 2025

Given the horrible outcome, and the fact that Maeve set the whole thing in motion by offering Richie Seraphina as a sacrificial lamb, might the Harrigan matriarch have any regrets? —Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 11 May 2025

The need to balance the books is strong, and reports in Italy suggest Yildiz could be the sacrificial lamb this summer, even if the club do qualify. —Emmet Gates, Forbes, 21 Mar. 2025

But Gu was always the low-hanging fruit, marked as the sacrificial lamb from the beginning, when the state media announced her as a formal suspect in the Heywood killing. —Christopher K. Johnson, Foreign Affairs, 30 July 2012

Word History

First Known Use

1834, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for sacrificial lamb

• interferogram
• parallelogram
• abraham
• anagram
• cablegram
• cofferdam
• dendrogram
• diagram
• diaphragm
• epigram
• hexagram
• histogram