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
1
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
Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 4 May 2023
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
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
Maybe there’s an alternate universe where musicians are currently banding together against AI, opting to blackball anyone complicit in its rapid ascension from a viral sideshow into a thorn in the industry’s side.
—Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 4 May 2023
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
See All Example Sentences for blackball
Recent Examples of Synonyms for blackball
Verb
-
That lawsuit, along with a countersuit by the PGA Tour, was dismissed a year later.—
Tim Reynolds,
Chicago Tribune,
1 May 2026
-
There’s too much effort, too much time, and too much sincerity apparent behind this film to dismiss it outright.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
30 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Super-majority thresholds are common in government (like a 67% requirement to over-ride a governor’s veto) and in the private sector.—
Kent Thiry,
Denver Post,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Letterboxd co-founder Matthew Buchanan retains veto rights over any potential buyer, a condition intended to preserve the site’s original spirit.—
Max Tani,
semafor.com,
27 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The appeals court ruled in September 2025 that Mid Vermont Christian must be allowed to participate in state athletics, after two years of banishment had passed.—
Jackson Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Like there was a demon in his lungs, fighting the last bit of banishment.—
Courtney Crowder,
USA Today,
10 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.—
City News Service,
Daily News,
25 Apr. 2026
-
Denver police on Thursday arrested a 28-year-old man who investigators said shot and killed another man in a fight near South Broadway and West Maple Avenue, department officials said in a news release.—
Katie Langford,
Denver Post,
25 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Wouldn’t a con woman rear a child to be a con artist?—
Oline H. Cogdill,
Sun Sentinel,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Spying a bureau with drawers that might con-tain manuscripts, Fields asked again.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Apr. 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
-
But when the symptoms refused to fade, an MRI revealed something far worse.—
Théoden Janes,
Charlotte Observer,
28 Apr. 2026
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Others rely on patience, research, and the fact that the ground itself refuses to be reduced to one easy headline.—
Matthew Kayser,
USA Today,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Stribling transferred to Oklahoma State after Rolovich was fired from Washington State following his refusal to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine.—
Graham Womack,
Sacbee.com,
25 Apr. 2026
-
The Kid Line of Marat Khusnutdinov, Fraser Minten and James Hagens drew raves from Sturm in the first two games up in Buffalo for its details and refusal to be cowed by the hostile environment in Buffalo.—
Stephen Conroy,
Hartford Courant,
24 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Blackball.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/blackball. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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