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Synonyms

black list

Idioms  

  1. A list of persons or things considered undesirable or deserving punishment, as in Japanese beetles are on my black list of garden pests. The practice of making such lists is quite old. Notorious examples include the late 19th-century black lists of union members whom employers would not hire and the black lists of persons suspected of being Communists as a result of the hearings held by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy in the early 1950s. Today the term is also used more loosely, as in the example. [Early 1600s] Also see black book, def. 1.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Saturated fat has been taken off the black list.

From Barron's • Jan. 7, 2026

Last month the Seychelles was added to the EU's tax haven black list.

From BBC • Nov. 2, 2023

"This measure is designed to encourage those on the black list to change their behaviour," the ministry said in a statement.

From Reuters • Apr. 12, 2023

North Korea and Iran remain the only two countries on the FATF’s high-risk black list.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 21, 2021

On this black list, and amongst the foremost, stood the name of William Waterstone.

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 16 by Various

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.