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blackball

[blak-bawl] / ˈblækˌbɔl /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Ms McKinney said modelling opportunities began to decline for her and she believed Mr Combs used his influence to "blackball" her in the industry.

From BBC ● May 22, 2024

And somebody — I won’t say who — that was within my representation at the time said “If you don’t do it, CBS will never work with you again. They’ll blackball you.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2021

Regarding the charge from many of his accusers that he threatened to derail their careers if they spoke out: “I couldn’t blackball anybody, because if I said, ‘Don’t use that actress’ .

From Washington Post ● Mar. 11, 2020

When she finally gave in, she insisted that I give her four weeks notice or she would blackball me.

From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2020

Early in his career Owen used his influence at the Zoological Society to blackball a young man named Robert Grant whose only crime was to have shown promise as a fellow anatomist.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

While that blackballs the firms, it does not ban all business dealings, the report added.

From Reuters ● Mar. 25, 2022

I buy licorice whips, jelly beans, many-layered blackballs with the seed in the middle, packages of fizzy sherbet you suck up through a straw.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

But once again, insensible to this detail, the jury seemed scarcely able to find blackballs enough to emphasize their refusal of the "Passage of the Beresina."

From International Short Stories: French by A. Cheneviere

Of all candidates at a club a known quarreller is more sure of blackballs now than even in the times when such a one provoked duels.

From Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope

Julius Cæsar Conway;—a great friend of mine, and therefore he always blackballs my other friends at the club.

From Phineas Finn The Irish Member by Anthony Trollope

Then again, maybe that’s a popcorn kernel for critics and other nerds, like another episode’s throwaway line from a former journalist who says she got blackballed for sucker-punching Rex Reed.

From Salon ● May 8, 2025

Second, unlike Kennan’s memo, Merry’s was at odds with U.S. policy and was ignored, then buried, and its author was blackballed, by the policymakers at the time.

From Slate ● Dec. 23, 2024

“I’d been counted out and blackballed, and now it’s happening just like I told y’all,” Peysoh said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 27, 2024

It has also been reported that the energy security department had already blackballed Greenpeace months ago.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2023

If he’s not careful, he’ll be blackballed by his state medical association and kept out of the hospitals.”

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

And the reason for that compulsive work ethic was her unofficial blackballing by “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson, for the crime of accepting Fox's offer to host her own talk show.

From Salon ● May 14, 2025

Mr. Krikorian says he’s been facing that sort of ideological blackballing for years.

From Washington Times ● May 30, 2022

“This trend of big banks blackballing Alaska investment is dangerous to Alaska’s economic future,” Sullivan said in an interview Friday.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 24, 2020

He won a multimillion-dollar settlement in 2019 after he accused the league of blackballing him because of his protests.

From New York Times ● Sep. 13, 2020

Reform Club, Author elected member of, in 1878; "press-gang" at; excitement upon news of Phoenix Park murders; Mr. Chamberlain's brothers blackballed; proposal to abolish blackballing; Mr. Chamberlain resigns membership.

From Memoirs of Sir Wemyss Reid 1842-1885 by Stuart J. (Stuart Johnson) Reid


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