blackball C2+ Topic:People & Society 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. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 verb · to reject or exclude... excluderejectostracizeblacklistvetoshunsnub ↔ Opposites admitacceptincludewelcome Word family Related forms blackball Etymology AI details 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 People & Society External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # 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 - People & Society markdown