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- Dictionaryblack·mail/ˈblakˌmāl/
noun
- 1. the action, treated as a criminal offense, of demanding payment or another benefit from someone in return for not revealing compromising or damaging information about them: "they were acquitted of charges of blackmail"
verb
- 1. demand money or another benefit from (someone) in return for not revealing compromising or damaging information about them: "trying to blackmail him for $400,000" Similar
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the act of getting money from people or forcing them to do something by threatening to tell a secret of theirs or to harm them: If you are in a position of authority, any weakness leaves you open to blackmail. Fewer examples. I don't believe she would ever stoop to bribery or blackmail. They were found guilty of blackmail and sent to prison.
The meaning of BLACKMAIL is a tribute anciently exacted on the Scottish border by plundering chiefs in exchange for immunity from pillage. How to use blackmail in a sentence.
Blackmail is the act of attempting to force someone to do something or give up something valuable by threatening negative consequences if they don’t, especially revealing negative information about them. Blackmail can also be used as a verb meaning to do such a thing.
To blackmail someone is to use secret information to get something from them, usually money. Blackmailing is a crime. Blackmail is a type of threat. For example, if a politician's assistant knew the politician was having an affair, the assistant could blackmail the politician by threatening to tell the press.
Blackmail is the action of threatening to reveal a secret about someone, unless they do something you tell them to do, such as giving you money.
any payment extorted by intimidation, as by threats of injurious revelations or accusations. the extortion of such payment: He confessed rather than suffer the dishonor of blackmail. a tribute formerly exacted in the north of England and in Scotland by freebooting chiefs for protection from pillage.
Definition of blackmail noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
