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.

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Example Sentences

Saturated fat has been taken off the black list.

From Barron's • Jan. 7, 2026

She believes her name is on a "black list" which makes her nervous about going home.

From BBC • Jun. 18, 2023

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

From Seattle Times • Oct. 21, 2021

Sheng Xue learned the Chinese government had her on its black list in 1996, when she tried to return to Beijing.

From New York Times • Apr. 1, 2019

"Oh, 'tis the black list of sins I have to own to!"

From Confessions Of Con Cregan An Irish Gil Blas by Lever, Charles James

Related Words

• censure
• criticism
• denunciation
• discontent
• dislike
• displeasure
• dissatisfaction
• objection