How to Use blackball in a Sentence

blackball

verb
  • Kaepernick is no longer in the league and claims he was blackballed for his actions.
    — Author: Sarah Blaskey, Anchorage Daily News, 4 Feb. 2020
  • Facebook either stifles them, buys them, shuts them down, blackballs them.
    — John McCormack, National Review, 20 June 2019
  • Justin’s solo career took off after that and Janet was blackballed.
    — Alexia Fernandez, PEOPLE.com, 3 Feb. 2018
  • Social media rumors swirled that the league was blackballing her because of her activism.
    — Rebecca Tauber, New York Times, 4 May 2026
  • Kaepernick still remains, essentially, blackballed from the league, having not been signed by any team in two years.
    — Aric Jenkins, Fortune, 14 Aug. 2019
  • His claim says the team marginalized and blackballed him, stalling a career that had been on track to land him a job as a general manager.
    — Greg Moore, The Arizona Republic, 4 Apr. 2023
  • When Mr Pence arrived at last, the Palestinians blackballed him.
    — The Economist, 25 Jan. 2018
  • Kaepernick, who was an unsigned free agent for all of last season, has accused the league of blackballing him for his political views.
    — Andrew Beaton, WSJ, 23 May 2018
  • Afterward, the student says, he was blackballed from applying for a job in the department.
    — Ben Guarino, The Verge, 12 Nov. 2018
  • If that high-profile man was an actor, he'd likely be blackballed by Hollywood for future roles.
    — Chris Cillizza, CNN, 29 June 2017
  • Many Kaepernick supporters said he was being blackballed for taking a stance for civil rights.
    — David Montero, latimes.com, 12 Apr. 2018
  • Colin Kaepernick is suing the league for blackballing him, and that blackballing is so much clearer than the catch rule ever was.
    — Michael Rosenberg, SI.com, 31 Jan. 2018
  • Some executives who fell out of favor with him said they were blackballed in the entertainment business.
    — Joe Flint, WSJ, 11 Sep. 2018
  • Cowher dismissed the idea that Kaepernick was being blackballed by NFL teams.
    — Richard Deitsch, SI.com, 10 Sep. 2017
  • Scott Carpenter had been blackballed for poor performance on the fourth Mercury flight.
    — Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 19 Dec. 2017
  • The lawyer is confident what is going on, from bullying to trying to blackball him with a feeling a betrayal.
    — Richard Obert, The Arizona Republic, 2 Sep. 2021
  • Haines perhaps was overly convinced that his fame was robust enough to survive Mayer's attempts to blackball him.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 4 June 2021
  • Enter Sheila, a street magician blackballed by the local boys club who wows Lincoln with her tips-only act.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 20 Feb. 2026
  • The former 49ers quaterback believes that the league blackballed him over his political views.
    — Jenna West, SI.com, 30 May 2018
  • Countless women were afraid to use their real name in her blockbuster article for fear they would be sued or blackballed in the technology world.
    — Nick Bilton, The Hive, 15 Dec. 2017
  • Now, as if blackballing Kaepernick from the league wasn’t bad enough, the NFL is salting the earth behind him.
    — Nestor Ramos, BostonGlobe.com, 25 May 2018
  • Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers went so far as to say Kaepernick was being blackballed from the league.
    — Nancy Armour, USA TODAY, 30 May 2020
  • Kaepernick is asserting that he's been blackballed by the NFL for his social activism.
    — Aaron Wilson, Houston Chronicle, 25 Apr. 2018
  • Kaepernick wasn't signed by a team in 2017 and remains a free agent amid accusations owners have blackballed him.
    — Geoffrey C. Arnold, OregonLive.com, 23 May 2018
  • The hearing will give Kaepernick the chance to officially make the case that he was blackballed by the NFL.
    — P.r. Lockhart, Vox, 6 Sep. 2018
  • Put more bluntly, the players believed that owners and teams had blackballed Kaepernick, who had been passed over by several teams in need of a quarterback.
    — Michael McCann, SI.com, 25 Apr. 2018
  • Divorced and unemployed, Coop gets blackballed from the finance sector entirely.
    — Ryan Brennan april 1, Miami Herald, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Regardless of the outcome, it’s widely believed among players that owners have blackballed Reid and Kaepernick.
    — Mike Jones, USA TODAY, 2 May 2018
  • In the Left’s narrative, Kaepernick is a talented star who has been blackballed for expressing viewpoints that irk team owners who are wealthy and white.
    — Jim Geraghty, National Review, 19 Aug. 2019
  • After being blackballed from the finance sector, Coop resorts to burglarizing the homes of those in his social circle and pawning the items to stay afloat.
    — Ryan Brennan, Charlotte Observer, 1 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'blackball.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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