to blackmail
- verb
- /ˈblækˌmeɪl/
- He tried to blackmail me by threatening to expose my secrets unless I paid him.
- threaten or blackmail
I'm here to say it's wrong to blackmail Ukraine this way.
- I'm here to say it's wrong to blackmail Ukraine this way.
- Head teacher comes out and he explains that they blackmailed him all on camera.
- But they're saying that he blackmailed the chick into releasing it.
- But after he got out, one of his victims started blackmailing him.
- And so manipulation is where you lie, you coerce, you emotionally blackmail, those sorts of things.
- The the the NSA's got there somewhere someday to blackmail you.
- But like to the one who tried to blackmail me, honey, look at me now, honey.
- In the end we identified the blackmailing group.
- Can PD blackmail those people by themselves or is he blackmailing for some kind of covert entity?
- It's like that line in American Beauty where Lester Burnham blackmails his boss and the boss says, you're insane.
- She was simply saying this guy is blackmailing me, he's trying to have power over me and I'm trying to take it back.
- I was hacked, my phone was hacked and I'm not going to be blackmailed.
- I could not sleep at night if I was fucking blackmailed or strong armed or fucking whatever the word is.
- So to the people who tried to blackmail me and thought they could really mess up my life with that, this one's for you.
Examples
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How the hell do you have the temerity to blackmail the President of the United States?
Fiction book (1995) -
I can't let this man blackmail me.
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So to the people who tried to blackmail me and thought they could really mess up my life with that, this one's for you.
-
But like to the one who tried to blackmail me, honey, look at me now, honey.
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- Now he wants to blackmail you?
-
Maybe we could blackmail him.
-
You mean you intend to blackmail him?
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Someone's trying to blackmail the CIA.
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Are you blackmailing me?
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Sage is blackmailing us.
Synonyms
To try to make someone do something
Force someone to do something by threats
To get money or favors from someone by using threats
Make someone give you something by using pressure or threats
To force someone to do something by threats or violence
To get money unfairly from someone by forcing them to pay too much
To pressure someone to give money or information when they do not want to
To force someone to do something by threats or pressure
How Coercive
- Offensive
Surface Forms
Etymology
Blackmail as a verb comes from the same idea: it means to force someone to give money or do something by threat, like the old 'black' mail paid to avoid harm. That's why to blackmail someone today is to threaten them to get what you want.