BLACKMAILS Synonyms: 50 Similar and Opposite Words

blackmails

verb

present tense third-person singular of blackmail

as in threatens

to use blackmail against (someone) The old man was being blackmailed by his nephew.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of blackmails Tensions ratchet even higher when Gerry learns the truth and, now fully unhinged, blackmails Russ into throwing the game against Texas for a $200,000 bet. — Angelique Jackson, Variety, 16 Oct. 2026 The third ended by setting Deborah and Ava on a collision course after Ava blackmails Deborah into becoming head writer of her late-night show, only to render the fallout in cartoonishly broad terms. — Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 29 May 2026 Their antagonism peaked at the end of Season 3, when Deborah achieves her dream of landing a late-night chair and Ava blackmails her way into the head-writer job. — Michael Schulman, New Yorker, 29 May 2026 Collet-Serra directed and executive produced the film that focused on Egerton as an inexperienced TSA agent who ends up in a battle of wits with a mysterious traveler (Bateman) after the stranger blackmails him into allowing a dangerous package onto a flight on Christmas Eve. — Ryan Gajewski, HollywoodReporter, 22 May 2026 But is Duncan the devil who manipulates, lies and emotionally blackmails anyone in his orbit? — Stephen Schaefer, Boston Herald, 12 Apr. 2026 Something Duncan says in a session with JoAnne leads her to unload some stock, like Martha Stewart in 2004, and Duncan, working this out, blackmails her into passing on inside information from her clients to him. — Television Critic, Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2026 Eager to have his cake and eat it too, Benedict blackmails Sophie into taking a job with his mother. — Savannah Walsh, Vanity Fair, 30 Jan. 2026 Shay blackmails him, triggering a father-son feud. — Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 8 Oct. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for blackmails

Verb

Under his successor, Rob Manfred, owners again have proposed a salary cap, and a likely management lockout threatens the 2027 season.

— ABC News, ABC News, 24 Oct. 2026
On Rogers' earnings call, an analyst asked whether Starlink Mobile threatens to alter the competitive landscape in Canada, but Staffieri noted that there’s limited radio spectrum available for SpaceX to acquire.

— Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of threatens

Verb

But the strain extends across the Global South, where developing nations struggle with a prolonged energy crisis that disproportionately squeezes the planet’s most deprived.

— Charlie Campbell, Time, 20 Oct. 2026
Meta squeezes two independent light-guiding cores into a single standard glass strand to double its bandwidth.

— Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of squeezes

Verb

This approach also drives innovation by ensuring new technologies address real challenges cotton growers are facing.

— Angela Velasquez, Footwear News, 23 Oct. 2026
And more importantly, what is this anxiety so many men feel about their emotions that drives them to torturously invent bodies that bear little resemblance to the human form?

— Jay Weissberg, Variety, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of drives

Verb

Gunna somehow returns one of Gauff’s blistering serves into the net to kick off the clip, which impresses the 22-year-old tennis star.

— Michael Saponara, Billboard, 9 Oct. 2026
If Smith impresses in training camp, his non-guaranteed deal could be converted to a standard contract.

— Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 27 Sep. 2026

Definition of impresses

Verb

However, the rotation of this filament clearly dominates how the galaxies within it spin, perhaps by funneling hydrogen gas along the dark-matter filament and onto the galaxies in a way that coerces their spin while providing further fuel for star formation.

— Keith Cooper, Space.com, 4 Dec. 2025
Haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, Ali, a university professor, coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance.

— Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 14 Nov. 2025

Definition of coerces

Verb

Then Murphy takes a swing at a cop when the flatfoot harasses the two of them during a misunderstanding in an alleyway, and he’s arrested.

— David Fear, Rolling Stone, 16 Sep. 2026
Although China’s maritime militia fleet regularly harasses other countries’ small and vulnerable fishing boats, the container ships and bulk carriers responsible for Taiwan’s commerce dwarf any Chinese militia vessel.

— Eugene Gholz, Foreign Affairs, 4 Aug. 2026

Definition of harasses

Verb

Try to keep that in mind the next time your kid drags you to some terrible Star Wars thing that nobody asked for.

— Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 23 Oct. 2026
The deadpan family comedy follows a 63-year-old man who drags nine relatives on a one-day tour of nine temples after a fortune teller warns that his mother will soon die.

— Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of drags

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“Blackmails.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/blackmails. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of blackmails

verb

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