blackball
A rejection; a vote against admitting someoneA rejection; a vote against admitting someone.
Meaning
5 senses(countable)A rejection; a vote against admitting someone.
(countable)A black ball used to indicate such a negative vote.
Regardless how many other people may have voted to approve a candidate for membership, a single blackball will reject the candidate.
the act of excluding someone by a negative vote or veto
(countable)A kind of large black sweet, a black-colored gobstopper.
(countable, uncountable)A substance for blacking shoes, boots, etc. or for taking impressions of engraved work.
(uncountable)A game, a standardized version of the English version of eight-ball.
Origin
From black + ball.From black + ball.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: blackballs| Singular | blackball |
|---|---|
| Plural | blackballs |
regular
Synonyms
2 synonyms- the act of excluding someone by a negative vote or veto:barring
Lessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.