Synonyms of whipping boy
8 similar words
Another word for whipping boy is scapegoat. Other synonyms of whipping boy are sacrificial lamb, escapegoat, fall guy, folk devil and goat.
Synonyms and similar words for whipping boy
nounSomeone punished for the errors of others.
- scapegoatSomeone unfairly blamed or punished for some failure.
- sacrificial lamb
- escapegoat
- fall guyA scapegoat.
- folk devilA person or type of person blamed by the public for various ills, as during a moral panic.
- goat informal
- Joe Soap BritishA foolish stooge or scapegoat.
- patsy
Meaning of whipping boy
- noun A boy who was whipped in the stead of a misbehaving prince in early modern Europe.
- noun Someone punished for the errors of others.
whipping boy in other languages
Questions about synonyms of whipping boy
- What is another word for whipping boy?
- Whipping boy has 8 synonyms on Word.ws, such as scapegoat, sacrificial lamb, escapegoat, fall guy, folk devil, goat, Joe Soap and patsy.
- What does whipping boy mean?
- Whipping boy means a boy who was whipped in the stead of a misbehaving prince in early modern Europe.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: whipping boy (page history and authors) and the entries of the words listed. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws grouped the synonyms and antonyms by meaning and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Synonyms of whipping boy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/synonyms/whipping_boy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.