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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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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
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Federal Court Justice James Stellios ruled in dismissing the appeal that no jurisdiction error was made in 2024 by then Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus in ordering Duggan's extradition.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
16 Apr. 2026
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Maasdorp called for a pivot toward investment, capital mobilization, and regional integration, saying BII was looking to forge partnerships that de-risk investment in markets long dismissed as too volatile.—
Adrian Elimian,
semafor.com,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Perhaps more significantly, Graham King, the producer, needed approval for the music from the Jackson estate, effectively giving it veto power over the project.—
Kelefa Sanneh,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
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After the Brussels meeting, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that without Orban’s veto, action could be coming soon, such as imposing sanctions on violent Israeli settlers.—
Sam McNeil,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Like there was a demon in his lungs, fighting the last bit of banishment.—
Courtney Crowder,
USA Today,
10 Apr. 2026
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Remember, this is Augusta National, where the surreptitious use of a cellphone is grounds for immediate banishment.—
Anthony Crupi,
Sportico.com,
10 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Three people were killed and a fourth person was critically injured Friday afternoon when gunmen opened fire on a street in the Garfield Park neighborhood, according to Chicago police.—
William Lee,
Chicago Tribune,
18 Apr. 2026
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That means potentially, millions of innocent people will be able to keep their lives and not get killed by terrorists.—
Joe Walsh,
CBS News,
18 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Please don’t fall for this con — even if the Labor Department endorses and promotes it.—
Terry Savage,
Chicago Tribune,
21 Apr. 2026
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There’s the tease of one, right up until the end, and the promise of the con.—
Lindsey Bahr,
Boston Herald,
16 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
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Football has traditionally been a conduit for protests in Iran, with the national team refusing to sing the anthem on several occasions over recent decades, including during the 2009 Green Movement and after the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the morality police in 2022.—
Jacob Whitehead,
New York Times,
21 Apr. 2026
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However, the Portage Township Schools have refused to recognize autism as an educational eligibility category and have denied the boy autism-specific services, sensory accommodations and the proper behavioral interventions, the suit says.—
Jim Woods,
Chicago Tribune,
21 Apr. 2026
Noun
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In fact, the GOP has made things worse, with tax policies favoring corporations over working people, a refusal to expand health access through Medicaid and keeping some of the lowest unemployment benefits of any state.—
Steve Bousquet,
Sun Sentinel,
11 Apr. 2026
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Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on Thursday sent a letter to Barry University School of Law warning that the institution is in violation of the state’s consumer protection laws over its refusal to recognize a student chapter of Turning Point USA.—
Claire Carter,
The Washington Examiner,
9 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Blackball.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/blackball. Accessed 22 Apr. 2026.
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