blockbusting

American  

[blok-buhs-ting] / ˈblɒkˌbʌs tɪŋ /

noun

1. the profiteering real-estate practice of buying homes from white majority homeowners below market value, based on the implied threat of future devaluation during minority integration of previously segregated neighborhoods.

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blockbusting British  

/ ˈblɒkˌbʌstɪŋ /

noun

1. informal the act or practice of inducing the sale of property cheaply by exploiting the owners' fears of lower prices if racial minorities live in the area

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Etymology

Origin of blockbusting

First recorded in 1940–45; block + bust ² + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

The reappearance of cocky Navy pilot Capt. Pete Mitchell to movie theaters sent blockbusting shockwaves around the world.

From Washington Times • Nov. 11, 2022

The email caught Mason in a reflective mood, arriving in the wake of Their Mortal Remains, the blockbusting V&A exhibition that finally seemed to draw a line under Pink Floyd’s career.

From The Guardian • Sep. 20, 2018

That is not to write off the blockbusting Wales centre, the doctor hewn from granite who has been smashing it up the middle for Wales for nigh on a decade.

From BBC • Feb. 10, 2017

She invites ecological destruction on the blockbusting pop single 4 Degrees, with lacerating irony.

From The Guardian • Apr. 9, 2016

I reached in where we used to keep milk, pulled one out and it looked bigger than a blockbusting bomb.

From Epistles from Pap: Letters from the man known as 'The Will Rogers of Indiana' by Hay, Douglas (Douglas N.)