How to Use blackmail in a Sentence

blackmail

noun
  • She was a victim of blackmail.
  • The servant extorted blackmail from her employer.
  • That blackmail could be in the offing.
    — Television Critic, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 2026
  • Around 200 are still pawns in a high-stakes game of blackmail.
    — CBS News, 29 Oct. 2023
  • The blackmail part is just turning on a little bit.
    — Nichole Marks, CBS News, 17 Nov. 2025
  • But this tale of the press, blackmail, and romance is pure Mank.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 4 Dec. 2020
  • Be kind and fierce and don’t bend an inch to this emotional blackmail.
    — Washington Post, 28 June 2021
  • Still, blackmail is no way to enlist the firm’s good counsel.
    — Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2025
  • There’s blackmail, scheming, and, of course, a plot for murder.
    — Amy Reyes may 14, Miami Herald, 14 May 2026
  • What the two show hosts described can only be called an attempt at blackmail.
    — David Zurawik, baltimoresun.com, 30 June 2017
  • Those who are using nuclear blackmail against us should know that the wind rose can turn around.
    — Washington Post Staff, Washington Post, 21 Sep. 2022
  • Looks like there’s a new player in this game of blackmail and backstabbing.
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 26 Sep. 2025
  • The knight didn’t seem to take too kindly to Joffrey’s threats of blackmail.
    — ELLE, 19 Sep. 2022
  • It’s been proven in a lot of our research and others’ research that her kids were used as blackmail.
    — Chris Gardner, Billboard, 4 Oct. 2021
  • That’s why Google’s decision last week doesn’t amount to blackmail.
    — Jeff John Roberts, Fortune, 30 Sep. 2019
  • The second a photo is sent, the blackmail begins.
    — Stepheny Price , Peter D'abrosca, FOXNews.com, 4 Oct. 2025
  • This is not illogical, in the same way that any blackmail makes sense on paper.
    — Ross Rosenfeld, Newsweek, 26 Feb. 2025
  • Cousin Greg has come a long way from copying those cruise documents as blackmail.
    — Erica Gonzales, ELLE, 30 May 2023
  • The suit says Williams did not bring up the blackmail during this discussion.
    — Sabrina Leboeuf, Baltimore Sun, 1 Aug. 2023
  • Trapped in the throes of a blackmail plot, Sylvia doesn't have any interest in a romance.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 11 Feb. 2022
  • But researchers have found that AIs can scheme, deceive, or blackmail.
    — Charlie Campbell, Time, 11 Dec. 2025
  • All Martha's plots turned on blackmail; each of her denouements was a study in blackmail foiled.
    — Joan Didion, Vogue, 28 Apr. 2024
  • The same sort of thinking turns out to be a motivating factor in the movie's blackmail ring.
    — J.r. Jones, Chicago Reader, 21 Mar. 2018
  • Murder and blackmail follow in the comedy that's been made famous as a board game and movie.
    — Domenica Bongiovanni, The Indianapolis Star, 14 Apr. 2022
  • Collins concluded that a vote against the nominee would seem like weakness in the face of blackmail.
    — John Fabian Witt, The New Republic, 7 Apr. 2020
  • She was also trained to audit others with an eye to possible blackmail.
    — Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 8 Jan. 2026
  • Just some good old-fashioned blackmail between grandmama and child.
    — Jessica M. Goldstein, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2025
  • In the meantime, the two sides have traded scathing accusations of bad faith and even blackmail.
    — Grant Stringer, Mercury News, 27 Jan. 2026
  • Comedy and song steer the course through exotic disguise, a zany blackmail scheme and singing sailors.
    — Chuck Gibson, Cincinnati.com, 13 Sep. 2017
  • Once an athlete shares a nugget or two on a teammate’s injury or a coach’s scheme, the blackmail escalates.
    — Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico.com, 24 Oct. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'blackmail.' 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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