blacklist

1 of 2

noun

black·​list ˈblak-ˌlist 

1

: a list of persons who are disapproved of or are to be punished or boycotted

2

: a list of banned or excluded things of disreputable character

a domain-name blacklist

… helped the government keep marijuana on the blacklist.

—Cynthia Cotts

blacklist

2 of 2

verb

blacklisted; blacklisting; blacklists

transitive verb

: to put on a blacklist

blacklister noun

Examples of blacklist in a Sentence

Noun

He's on the FBI's blacklist.

The rental company has created a blacklist of bad drivers.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

At the height of the blacklist, network executives had been cowardly; sponsors had folded without hesitation. —Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 9 June 2025

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is back in business in Texas after the state removed it from a blacklist of financial firms that Republican officials deemed to be prejudiced against the oil and gas industry. —Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 5 June 2025

Verb

Keep your complaint rate above 0.3% and you're blacklisted. —Jodie Cook, Forbes.com, 11 June 2025

They got blacklisted, and were jailed for contempt of Congress. —Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 9 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1624, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1702, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for blacklist

• assist
• booklist
• checklist
• consist
• desist
• dismissed
• enlist
• exist
• insist
• oocyst
• persist
• resist

Kids Definition

blacklist

noun

black·​list

ˈblak-ˌlist

: a list of persons who are disapproved of and are to be punished

blacklist verb