blackmail
noun
any payment extorted by intimidation, as by threats of injurious revelations or accusations.
had blackmailed
-
past perfectof blackmail.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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.
Citing the abuses of Hoover’s forty-eight-year tenure—including reports that he had blackmailed Presidents and members of Congress—directors were barred from serving more than a single ten-year term.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 12, 2018
But on that night’s newscast, a St. Louis television station publicized Mr. Greitens’s affair and reported accusations that he had blackmailed the woman.
From New York Times ● Jan. 26, 2018
Watergate burglary overseer Howard Hunt was set to appear Monday afternoon before the Watergate grand jury; he had blackmailed the White House by threatening to reveal “seamy stories,” and he knew several.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2015
The Rev. R. M. Mateer secured the arrest of two scapegraces who, under pretense of being Christians, had blackmailed innocent villagers.
From New Forces in Old China An Inevitable Awakening by Arthur Judson Brown
He, it seemed, spent his night at the siren temple in the water, sleeping in the cell where I had blackmailed Biddy, and not even appearing to know that the custom scintillated with romance.
From It Happened in Egypt by C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson
