This week’s theme
Words relating to religion

This week’s words
evangelical
epiphany
sacrificial lamb

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(sak-ruh-FISH-uhl lam)

MEANING:

noun: Someone or something blamed or sent to their doom in order to spare others.

ETYMOLOGY:

From sacrifice, from Latin sacer (holy) + facere (to make) + lamb, from Old English lamb. Earliest documented use: 1834.

NOTES:

One of the titles given to Jesus is the Lamb of God, sacrificed for humanity’s sins. In the corporate world, a sacrificial lamb may be a junior employee left holding the bag when a project fails. In politics, it’s the candidate sent to the slaughter in a hopeless race. In fiction, it’s the minor character written off for the sake of plot. The metaphor works because lambs are fluffy and harmless, precisely the sort you’d least want to see shorn, let alone slaughtered. See also scapegoat.

USAGE:

“Am I being made a sacrificial lamb at the altar of justice as a showcase to tell the nation that at least something has been done to clean the institution from corruption?”
Soumitra Sen; The Anger of a Nation; Tehelka (New Delhi, India); Sep 3, 2011.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: