Blacklist

How to spell blacklist

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce blacklist

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does blacklist mean?

1. nounA list of people, organisations, or things that are disapproved of, barred, or denied service.
2. verbTo put a person, company, or item on a list that bars them from work, service, or access.

Blacklist in a sentence

• noun

  The agency added the fraudulent supplier to its blacklist.

• verb

  The studio decided to blacklist writers who breached the contract.

• noun

  His name appeared on the recruitment blacklist after the scandal.

• verb

  Banks can blacklist customers who repeatedly default on loans.

Where does blacklist come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent English compound formed from 'black' and 'list', and it carries the long-standing figurative use of black to mean disgraceful, forbidden, or marked for punishment. The combination first appeared in the early 1600s, and one famous early use refers to the register of those who had condemned King Charles I; after the Restoration in 1660, those people found themselves on a literal black list and faced retribution. The 'black' element comes from Old English blaec, meaning the colour black, which had already gathered connotations of evil and dishonour. The 'list' element comes from Old French liste meaning a strip or band, later a roll of names, ultimately from a Germanic root for a border or edge. By the twentieth century the word was firmly established as both a noun for a roster of barred people and a verb for the act of barring them.

How the word is built

• black (sinister, forbidden)
• list (a record of names)