folk devil
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A person or group unfairly blamed for societal problems
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
người hoặc nhóm bị đổ lỗi một cách không công bằng cho vấn đề xã hội
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a devil of the folk
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The media portrayed the rioters as folk devils
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “folk devil” mean?
A person or group unfairly blamed for societal problems Literally: a devil of the folk
Is “folk devil” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.