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Meaning of folk devil | Babel Free

Noun CEFR B2

Definitions

A person or type of person blamed by the public for various ills, as during a moral panic.

idiomatic

Examples

“It may be true, as Fred Robinson, a senior researcher at Newcastle University said, "Many people view Mrs. Thatcher as a kind of folk devil.”
“"Every time things become problematic we start careering towards social causes and pick on a folk devil to attribute all evil."”
“There is always a tendency, in the mainstream as much as the fringes, to blame real or imagined social problems on a folk devil.”

CEFR level

B2
Upper Intermediate
This word is part of the CEFR B2 vocabulary — upper intermediate level.

See also

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