How to Use whipping boy in a Sentence

whipping boy

noun
  • The middle class or big corporations don’t want to become the mayor’s whipping boy.
    — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 20 Feb. 2026
  • Jamie, the lawyer, is the resident whipping boy, the black sheep whose ambitions surpass his mettle.
    — Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker, 4 Feb. 2023
  • Paymer is an asset, playing with effortless conviction the eternal whipping boy who has a core of real strength.
    — Washington Post, 28 Apr. 2022
  • Like any zombie-to-be, Tom seeks out the next human to turn, and that’s his favorite confidante/whipping boy Greg.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 20 Dec. 2021
  • Eight plus one = nine, and therefore Brighton will inherently become Chelsea's whipping boys.
    — SI.com, 28 Sep. 2019
  • Hollywood has long used the US business mogul as the whipping boy to illustrate society’s ills.
    — Adario Strange, Quartz, 4 Jan. 2022
  • Adding Toronto fan whipping boy Jake Gardiner would be a nice play for a team that has just five defensemen under contact.
    — Matt Porter, BostonGlobe.com, 29 June 2019
  • Lee, who has thrown a nation-high nine interceptions, has been the fans' whipping boy during a poor start to Riley's third year in Lincoln.
    — USA TODAY, 23 Sep. 2017
  • Through the first five days of the postseason, starting pitcher served primarily as whipping boys, with even the aces and frontliners routinely getting lashed.
    — Jay Jaffe, SI.com, 12 Oct. 2017
  • Cousins has gone from whipping boy to top-level performer, throwing 18 touchdown passes and only one interception in the last seven games while leading his team to six wins in that stretch.
    — Mike Jones, USA TODAY, 19 Nov. 2019
  • Since defeating league whipping boys Southampton 3-1 in September, the Cherries are without a win in five games.
    — SI.com, 2 Nov. 2019
  • O'Neill has worked wonders to turn the Northern Irish from whipping boys into a genuinely competitive outfit.
    — SI.com, 9 Sep. 2019
  • The polar vortex – everyone's favorite wintertime whipping boy – is a large area of cold air high up in the atmosphere that normally spins over the North Pole (as its name suggests).
    — Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 19 Feb. 2020
  • Or why Mac has everyone so jazzed up about investigating the old perennial Gang whipping boy Rickety Cricket found in the alley.
    — Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 3 Sep. 2022
  • Costa Rica, barring an unlikely miracle, should be the group whipping boys, meaning the game between Serbia and Switzerland could be vital.
    — SI.com, 3 June 2018
  • For as much as is possible on a team that’s begun the year with 16 wins in its first 22 games, Avila had turned into something of a local whipping boy, catching flak from fans and radio hosts for his brutal start.
    — Nick Piecoro, azcentral, 24 Apr. 2018
  • Even after becoming the president’s whipping boy, Sessions persevered—advancing his own personal vendetta against marijuana and all the hippies and darkies that use it.
    — Monique Judge, The Root, 17 Apr. 2018
  • Abbott has made the end of Title 42 a principal whipping boy in his reelection campaign, and has promised to continue his Operation Lone Star to stop the flow of migrants across the border.
    — Dallas News, 13 Apr. 2022
  • The polar vortex – everyone's favorite wintertime whipping boy – is actually a gigantic, circular area of cold air high up in the atmosphere that typically spins over the North Pole (as its name suggests).
    — Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 27 Jan. 2022
  • Yet Hojlund only has to look at Scott McTominay and how Conte revitalised his career in Naples after years of being a United whipping boy by some sections of the fan base.
    — Emmet Gates, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'whipping boy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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