blackboard

American  

[blak-bawrd, -bohrd] / ˈblækˌbɔrd, -ˌboʊrd /

noun

• blackboards
  plural

1. a sheet of smooth, hard material, especially dark slate, used in schools, lecture rooms, etc., for writing or drawing on with chalk.

---

blackboard British  

/ ˈblækˌbɔːd /

noun

1. a hard or rigid surface made of a smooth usually dark substance, used for writing or drawing on with chalk, esp in teaching

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• blackboards
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of blackboard

First recorded in 1815–25; black + board

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

blackboard blackboards

They always at least stay around the proverbial blackboard, as Friedman calls it, in case a player’s market doesn’t develop as expected.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2025

Looming behind the bluesman is a blackboard, on which a genealogy of the blues has been chalk-drawn in an orderly hand.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025

The host walked me to the seating at the back of the restaurant, and we passed a huge blackboard that read, “Leave a message for Mr. G or Lady G.”

From Slate ● Nov. 2, 2024

One of the first buildings players enter - the local pub, of course - has a blackboard outside advertising today's special.

From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2024

All day, a book with a full-page reproduction of the Lady was propped open against the blackboard.

From "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett

Supporters on both sides are claiming victory based on images circulating on social media of blackboards and papers tallying the results.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2025

The group has collected photographs of about 200 messages left as graffiti or written on blackboards in schools.

From New York Times ● Oct. 10, 2022

It started, really, with those double pages that open the chapters that look like blackboards with white letters.

From Salon ● Mar. 9, 2022

Guests can tour classrooms where blackboards, walls and ceilings were warped by the water.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 29, 2021

We do group murals on the blackboards or on large rolls of brown paper.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---