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Showing results for blackmail. Search instead for blackmail ing.
Definitions

blackmail

[blak-meyl] / ˈblækˌmeɪl /
NOUN
intimidation for money; money to quiet informer
Synonyms




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:

When it is tied to "an unparalleled moral eminence", he wrote, a fast unto death "amounts to blackmail".

From BBC Jul. 16, 2026

"Is this a way to put pressure on us? Is this blackmail?"

From Barron's Jul. 7, 2026

The criminals hoped the documents within would contain sensitive secrets they could use to blackmail Hughes, who sometimes spent months without leaving his home, eating only chocolate bars and milk, letting his fingernails grow long.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 16, 2026

This exemplary service failed to account for her disturbingly poor judgment, risking blackmail and conflict-of-interest allegations, since the Atlanta Police Department appears before her court; nor her lack of candor to the court.

From Slate Jun. 8, 2026

I remember feeling dimly that there was a kind of blackmail in it.

From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin

For Nate, a bid at redemption comes not from his mother but from Jade, who blackmails the A Taste of Athens manager, Derek into firing him.

From New York Times May 24, 2023

Persistent, and desperate, Cassie blackmails her for the spot saying she knows that Carol sells "buddy passes" and that everyone calls her "black market Carol" because of it.

From Salon Apr. 29, 2022

Kiki’s former spymaster, the shadowy Dr. Fox, persuades — well, blackmails — her into working for him again, gathering intelligence on possible threats.

From Seattle Times Jul. 30, 2021

A Nazi spy blackmails a German patriot living in Washington with his wife and family.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 23, 2019

Booth blackmails Atzerodt, saying belongings John Wilkes Booth took with he left his hotel room on April 14, 1865. he’s in too deep to back out.

From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly

Worse, the patients were the ones feeling emotionally blackmailed into donating money.

From MarketWatch Jul. 2, 2026

“We have never blackmailed anyone,” the post said.

From Salon Feb. 21, 2026

Which would get tiresome if she weren’t being blackmailed about William, the money and Neha’s perilous position with the police force.

From The Wall Street Journal Feb. 12, 2026

"We will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed," said Lars Klingbeil, at a press conference in Berlin alongside French Economy Minister Roland Lescure.

From Barron's Jan. 19, 2026

But the king was being blackmailed by an old girlfriend, an opera singer from New Jersey named Irene Adler.

From "Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" by Chris Grabenstein

Some have suggested that Moreno had been silent because Miller was blackmailing him.

From Slate Aug. 3, 2026

Bondi is under fire after she said last week there was no evidence Epstein kept a "client list" or was blackmailing powerful figures.

From BBC Jul. 15, 2025

Epstein conspiracists go way beyond this, however, insisting there’s a “client list” Epstein kept with detailed notes about who he was blackmailing and for what.

From Salon Jul. 15, 2025

“What We Do Next” is a three-person chamber drama that takes the scheming and blackmailing of political thrillers like “House of Cards” and shapes them into something like a morality play.

From New York Times Mar. 2, 2023

“I don’t know what you’re getting at—nobody’s blackmailing me.”

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck




Vocabulary lists containing blackmail


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