blackball

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

US /ˈblækbɔl/ UK /ˈblækbɔːl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to reject or exclude someone, especially by voting against their membership

The club blackballed him for breaking its code of conduct.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to reject or exclude... exclude reject ostracizeblacklistveto shun snub

Opposites

admit accept include welcome

Word family

Related forms black ball

Etymology

A compound of black + ball, from the practice of placing a black ball in a ballot box to vote against a candidate's admission to a club.

blæc Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# blackball

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈblækbɔl/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈblækbɔːl/

## Meanings
1. to reject or exclude someone, especially by voting against their membership

## Examples
- The club blackballed him for breaking its code of conduct.

## Synonyms
- exclude
- reject
- ostracize
- blacklist
- veto
- shun
- snub

## Antonyms
- admit
- accept
- include
- welcome

## Related Forms
- black
- ball

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: blæc

## Etymology
A compound of black + ball, from the practice of placing a black ball in a ballot box to vote against a candidate's admission to a club.

## AI Etymology
Blackball is a compound of black + ball, from the practice of placing a black ball in a ballot box to vote against a candidate's admission to a club. The historical trail runs through blæc in Old English. Morphologically, blackball is transparent: it is a compound of black + ball, from the practice of placing a black ball in a ballot box to vote against a candidate's admission to a club. Used as a verb and noun, blackball now means "reject or exclude someone, especially by voting against their membership", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as black and ball. The modern word remains analyzable through its parts, which makes the semantic connection unusually direct.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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