BLACKBALL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does blackball mean? 

• BLACKBALL (noun)
  The noun BLACKBALL has 1 sense:

1. the act of excluding someone by a negative vote or veto

  Familiarity information: BLACKBALL used as a noun is very rare.

• BLACKBALL (verb)
  The verb BLACKBALL has 2 senses:

1. expel from a community or group

2. vote against; refuse to endorse; refuse to assent

  Familiarity information: BLACKBALL used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BLACKBALL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of excluding someone by a negative vote or veto

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

barring; blackball

Hypernyms ("blackball" is a kind of...):

ejection; exclusion; expulsion; riddance (the act of forcing out someone or something)

Derivation:

blackball (expel from a community or group)

• BLACKBALL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they blackball    ... he / she / it blackballs   
Past simple: blackballed   
Past participle: blackballed   
-ing form: blackballing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Expel from a community or group

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

ban; banish; blackball; cast out; ostracise; ostracize; shun

Hypernyms (to "blackball" is one way to...):

expel; kick out; throw out (force to leave or move out)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

blackball (the act of excluding someone by a negative vote or veto)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Vote against; refuse to endorse; refuse to assent

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

blackball; negative; veto

Context example:

The President vetoed the bill

Hypernyms (to "blackball" is one way to...):

contradict; controvert; oppose (be resistant to)

"Blackball" entails doing...:

vote (express a choice or opinion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "blackball"):

defeat; kill; shoot down; vote down; vote out (thwart the passage of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

He claims to be the first gentleman of England, but the gentlemen of England have responded by blackballing his friends at their clubs, and by warning him off from Newmarket under suspicion of having tampered with a horse.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)