fall guy

English

Alternative forms

• fall-guy, fallguy

Noun

fall guy (plural fall guys)

1. (informal) One who is gullible and easily duped.

   Synonym: patsy

2. (informal) A scapegoat.
   • 2012 August 21, Ed Pilkington, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Clemons's supporters have over the years given a different rendition of events. In the racially heated atmosphere of St Louis in the early 1990s, they say, Clemons was made the fall guy. Of the four men who were charged with the murders, the three black men were all put on death row while the one white man is now free on parole.

Synonyms

• (one who is gullible): See Thesaurus:dupe
• (scapegoat): See Thesaurus:scapegoat

Related terms

• take the fall

Translations

one who is easily duped

• Bulgarian: наивник (bg) m (naivnik)
• French: poire (fr) f
• Hungarian: balek (hu), palimadár, könnyű préda
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: простофиля (ru) m (prostofilja)
• Turkish: saf (tr), enayi (tr) (colloquial), keriz (tr) (slang), saftirik (tr) (slang)

a scapegoat

• Bulgarian: изкупителна жертва f (izkupitelna žertva)
• French: lampiste (fr) m or f, pigeon (fr) m
• Hungarian: bűnbak (hu)
• Kyrgyz: жок жерден күнөөлүү (ky) (jok jerden künöölüü)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: козёл отпуще́ния (ru) m (kozjól otpuščénija)
• Spanish: pagano (es)
• Turkish: şamar oğlanı (tr), günah keçisi (tr)

Further reading

• fall guy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• fugally