blackball

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(blăk'bôl') pronunciation
n.
  1. A negative vote, especially one that blocks the admission of an applicant to an organization.
  2. A small black ball used as a negative ballot.
tr.v., -balled, -ball·ing, -balls.
  1. To vote against, especially to veto the admission of.
  2. To shut out from social or commercial participation; ostracize or boycott.
blackballer black'ball'er n.

SYNONYMS   blackball, blacklist, boycott, ostracize. These verbs mean to exclude from social, professional, or commercial activities: blackballed by the fraternity; blacklisted because of her political beliefs; a threat to boycott the product; ostracized following the harassment charges.
ANTONYM  admit


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verb

  1. To prevent or forbid authoritatively: negative, turn down, veto. Slang nix. Idioms: turn thumbs down on. See accept/reject.
  2. To exclude from normal social or professional activities: blacklist, boycott, ostracize, shut out. See accept/reject.

A rejection of an applicant's membership in a private organization, such as a club or fraternity. The term is derived from the traditional practice of members voting anonymously on admitting new members, using either a white marble (acceptance) or a black marble (denial). Acceptance must be unanimous; therefore, one black marble in the ballot box is enough to keep the applicant out of the organization.

  • The term is now applied generally to efforts — especially unreasonable or vengeful actions — to keep a people or groups out of organizations they wish to join.
  • Random House Word Menu:

    categories related to 'blackball'

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    Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
    For a list of words related to blackball, see:

      See crossword solutions for the clue Blackball.

    Blackball, black-ball or black ball may refer to:

    Contents

    Society and culture

    • Blackballing, ostracizing someone socially, e.g. prevention of finding local or field-specific employment, blacklisting from a club or other organization, etc

    Geography

    • Blackball, New Zealand, a small town located on the western coast of the South Island of New Zealand; see also Blackball Branch in the "Transportation" section, below.

    Games and sporting

    • Blackball (pool), a variant of pocket billiards, sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association, popular in the UK and Australia among a few other places, and closely related to the American-style game of eight-ball
    • The black ball or 8 ball in that game and in British pool in general
    • Blackball, a pejorative term used to represent the Black baseball movement including the formation of Negro league baseball
    • Blackball, a monster in the Mystara campaign setting of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

    Nautical

    • "Blackball", a nickname for the letter  i  flag among the international maritime signal flags, featuring a black solid circle on a yellow background, and having specific additional meanings in certain contexts ("no surfing allowed in this area" at lifeguarded beaches, "no diving allowed in this area" at swimming pools, "gale warning" in a harbor, etc.)
    • Black Ball Line (disambiguation), several shipping companies

    Film

    Music

    Transportation

    • Blackball Branch a branch railway line to Blackball, New Zealand (see "Geography" above).
    • Black Ball Line, a name for the Puget Sound Navigation Company's ferry system (British Columbia, Canada, and Washington state, US)
    • Black Ball Line (trans-Atlantic packet), a fleet of packet ships running between Liverpool and New York, the first scheduled trans-Atlantic service, founded in 1817

    Software

    • BlackBall, Inc., a producer of digital asset management software.

    Translations:

    Blackball

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    Dansk (Danish)
    v. tr. - afvise, udelukke
    n. - sort kugle

    Nederlands (Dutch)
    kandidaat wegstemmen, zwart balletje voor tegenstem, tegenstemming

    Français (French)
    v. tr. - blackbouler
    n. - vote contre

    Deutsch (German)
    v. - stimmen gegen
    n. - Gegenstimme

    Ελληνική (Greek)
    v. - καταψηφίζω, μαυρίζω
    n. - αρνητική ψήφος, καταψήφιση

    Italiano (Italian)
    votare contro, voto contrario, voto segreto

    Português (Portuguese)
    v. - votar contra, banir
    n. - voto (m) contrário

    Русский (Russian)
    забаллотировать, предать остракизму, тайное голосование против кого-либо

    Español (Spanish)
    v. tr. - votar en contra, boicotear
    n. - bola negra

    Svenska (Swedish)
    v. - rösta mot, förkasta, svartlista
    n. - svart kula, nejröst, nejsedel

    中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
    投票反对, 排斥, 反对票

    中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
    v. tr. - 投票反對, 排斥
    n. - 反對票

    한국어 (Korean)
    v. tr. - ~에 반대 투표를 하다, ~을 배척하다
    n. - 반대 투표, 검은 공

    日本語 (Japanese)
    v. - 反対投票する, 除名する
    n. - 反対投票, 黒球

    العربيه (Arabic)
    ‏(فعل) صوت ضده (الاسم) صوت مضاد‏

    עברית (Hebrew)
    v. tr. - ‮הצביע (בהצבעה חשאית) נגד מועמד, נידה מהחברה‬
    n. - ‮הצבעה חשאית נגד מועמד‬


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