as in to dismiss
to reject by or as if by a vote
he was disappointed to learn that he had been blackballed by the fraternity
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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2
as in banishment
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of blackball
Literary Hub, 13 Nov. 2025
Last week, Google made sweepstakes ineligible for advertising certification, effectively blackballing them.
—Dan Bernstein, Sportico.com, 10 Nov. 2025
Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 3 Sep. 2019
Photos of Jay-Z hamming it up with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who many see as the face of Kaepernick’s blackball, were off-putting, to put it politely.
—Jonathan Jones, SI.com, 21 Aug. 2019
See All Example Sentences for blackball
Verb
By the time Childress was writing for Freedom, Paul Robeson was already an actor, athlete, and scholar blackballed by the U.S. government for his political views and Communist Party affiliations.
—Literary Hub, 13 Nov. 2025
Last week, Google made sweepstakes ineligible for advertising certification, effectively blackballing them.
—Dan Bernstein, Sportico.com, 10 Nov. 2025
Noun
Among the keys to its success, labor groups said, is the Accord’s ability to blackball factories that refuse to remediate safety violations from selling goods to signatory brands.
—Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 3 Sep. 2019
Photos of Jay-Z hamming it up with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who many see as the face of Kaepernick’s blackball, were off-putting, to put it politely.
—Jonathan Jones, SI.com, 21 Aug. 2019
See All Example Sentences for blackball
Recent Examples of Synonyms for blackball
Verb
-
Authorities had since dismissed her lawyers’ requests to send her to a hospital for urgent treatment.—
Cora Engelbrecht,
New Yorker,
3 Apr. 2026
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There is a long history of women's pain being dismissed by doctors, incorrectly categorized as period pain or rooted in psychological distress.—
Madeline Mitchell,
USA Today,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The legislature attempted, but ultimately failed, to override that veto.—
Nick Coltrain,
Denver Post,
30 Mar. 2026
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The Minneapolis council attempted to override his veto last week, but fell short of the super-majority needed to do so.—
Frederick Melo,
Twin Cities,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
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But how Andrew’s de facto banishment would affect his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, wasn’t known.—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
31 Mar. 2026
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Both view the Lebanese government as still completely incapable of disarming Hezbollah, though both were shocked at the new assertiveness of Beirut as seen by Tuesday’s banishment of Iran’s ambassador.—
Brady Knox,
The Washington Examiner,
26 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Authorities allege her husband, 40-year-old Stephen Bowen, killed her with a shotgun.—
Devoun Cetoute,
Miami Herald,
4 Apr. 2026
-
They get captured by Hungarian gangsters and have to fight (and kill) their way out of an inn run by a shady former dance prodigy (Uma Thurman).—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
4 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
What are the pros and cons of private investments?—
Daniel de Visé,
USA Today,
31 Mar. 2026
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The pros and cons of fiber-optic guidance Ukrainian forces have pushed standard FPV drones to ranges of 50 to 60 kilometers by integrating Starlink links, relay drones, and mothership launch platforms.—
Chris Young,
Interesting Engineering,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
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During the global debt crisis of the 1980s, the choice between debt servicing by means of an IMF program and ostracism from global markets was put on broad display.—
Sven van Mourik,
The Dial,
31 Mar. 2026
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In some cases, people who take these risks experience potentially negative social consequences such as disapproval, ostracism and career setbacks.—
Catherine A. Sanderson,
The Conversation,
3 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Increasingly, judges are opting to sanction lawyers who submit briefs tainted by AI errors, Moylan said, sometimes fining those who refuse to admit wrongdoing or referring them to their state’s bar association for disciplinary actions.—
Sharon Bernstein,
Sacbee.com,
1 Apr. 2026
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Like the impish anti-romance that crumbles around it, the movie’s twist is both transgressive enough to be pleased with itself and also rooted in a reality that refuses to be dismissed as a bad joke.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
31 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The golf pro was arrested and charged with a DUI, property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test by the local sheriff's department.—
Anna Kaufman,
USA Today,
3 Apr. 2026
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The 82-time PGA Tour winner is charged with driving under the influence with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test — both misdemeanors.—
Alaa Elassar,
CNN Money,
3 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Blackball.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/blackball. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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