whipping boy

noun

1

: a boy formerly educated with a prince and punished in his stead

2

: scapegoat sense 2

Synonyms

• fall guy
• goat
• scapegoat

Examples of whipping boy in a Sentence

used the government's economic policies as the whipping boy for every bad decision the company made

Recent Examples on the Web

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

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

Toyota’s faith in democratizing hybrid technology turned the company, once an environmental darling, into a whipping boy as it was widely accused of foot-dragging over electric vehicles. —Lawrence Ulrich, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2024

When Trump loses, Fox will be a whipping boy. —Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 6 Nov. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1647, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for whipping boy

• corduroy
• fauntleroy
• iroquois
• ahoy
• alloy
• annoy
• carboy
• convoy
• cowboy
• decoy
• deploy
• destroy

Kids Definition

whipping boy

noun

whip·​ping boy

: scapegoat