English Meaning & Definitions
The crime of demanding money or a favor from someone by threatening to make public something that secrets or damaging about them.
- “The hacker attempted cyber blackmail by threatening to release stolen corporate data.”
- “He obtained the promotion through pure blackmail rather than hard work.”
To demand money or certain behavior from someone by using threats to expose damaging secrets.
- “She was convicted of trying to blackmail her former employer.”
- “They used compromising photographs to blackmail the politician.”
Comprehensive Thesaurus Breakdown
Compare formal, informal, literary synonyms and register nuances for “blackmail”.
Derived from the 16th-century Scottish term where 'black' contrasted with 'white' (or silver) rents paid in coin. 'Mail' comes from the Old English 'māl', meaning rent or tribute. Originally, it referred to protection money paid to bandits in northern England and Scotland to prevent them from plundering properties, later evolving into its modern sense of extortion through the threat of revealing damaging information.
Imagine someone holding a 'black' mark against your reputation in the 'mail' unless you pay them.
Frequently Asked Questions About “blackmail”
1. What is the meaning of “blackmail” in English?
In English, blackmail (noun) is defined as: “The crime of demanding money or a favor from someone by threatening to make public something that secrets or damaging about them.”.
2. How do you use “blackmail” in a sentence?
“The hacker attempted cyber blackmail by threatening to release stolen corporate data.”
3. What are English synonyms of “blackmail”?
4. What is the etymology and word origin of “blackmail”?
Derived from the 16th-century Scottish term where 'black' contrasted with 'white' (or silver) rents paid in coin. 'Mail' comes from the Old English 'māl', meaning rent or tribute. Originally, it referred to protection money paid to bandits in northern England and Scotland to prevent them from plundering properties, later evolving into its modern sense of extortion through the threat of revealing damaging information.
🇬🇧More English Words to English
View all English words →A measurement of time indicating an instantaneous occurrence or a state where no time has elapsed.
The base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.
A specific duration of time equal to one hour and forty-six minutes and twelve seconds.
The cardinal number equal to one thousand million (1,000,000,000), expressed in scientific notation as 10^9.