blackball
/ˈblækbɑl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.89 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A substance for blacking shoes, boots, etc. or for taking impressions of engraved work.
Countable; Uncountable
name
A small town in Grey district, West Coast, New Zealand, with a history of gold and coal mining.
Example Sentences
- "Regardless how many other people may have voted to approve a candidate for membership, a single blackball will reject the candidate."
- "If you're not from a moneyed, well-connected family, you can count on getting blackballed from the fraternity."
- "Why, if I had known you all my life I should have grown up in the condition of Adam before the fall, and they would have blackballed me at the clubs."
- "Henry knew. If he were blackballed by this distaff Mafia, he was doomed: Endless, but always justifiable, delays would occur in the work he wanted typed."
- "My father sure could have used a union. The monopoly that controlled the bank vault installation business blackballed him when he was in his late fifties because he'd gone to work for a rival company that immediately went belly-up. If he'd been in a union he'd have got his job back.""
- "The actor Katherine Kendall has revealed how the fear of being “blackballed” by Hollywood’s powerbrokers stopped her from making claims of sexual harassment."
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈblækbɑl/
- British English: /ˈblækbɔːl/