Definition of blackface
: makeup applied to a performer playing a black person especially in a minstrel show; also : a performer wearing such makeup
Explore M-W
Recent Examples of blackface from the Web
-
On her personal Facebook page, Tuennerman posted a photo of herself masked for the Zulu parade, the African-American Mardi Gras parade that has all its riders, black or white, dress in blackface.
-
The show is adapted from a movie of the same name that follows the events leading up to a blackface party at a fictional and predominantly white Ivy League university.
-
The actors mill about the stage wearing mammy costumes or blackface.
-
Not everyone thinks Kim Kardashian West donned blackface intentionally to promote her new beauty line in a series of ads.
-
Germany’s Confederations Cup campaign opens against Australia in the Black Sea resort of Sochi where people in blackface wearing African clothing and carrying bananas marched in a government-parade last month.
-
Portraying any white person in blackface is racist and unacceptable.
-
Minniti, believing he and Neuman, both of whom are white, had been cast in blackface, reported the incident to the school as racist.
-
Eugene, Nov. 9: Three people were seen wearing blackface on the University of Oregon campus.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'blackface.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of blackface
1847
Learn More about blackface
-
See words that rhyme with blackface Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about blackface
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up blackface? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Writing? Check your grammar now!