Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use blackmail in a sentence

19 example sentences · noun, verb

Blackmail means the extortion of money or favors by threats of public accusation, critique, or exposure. Example: “He blackmailed a businesswoman by threatening to expose an alleged fraud.”

Examples of blackmail by meaning

verbTo extort money or favors from (a person) by exciting fears of injury other than bodily harm, such as injury to...

  • He blackmailed a businesswoman by threatening to expose an alleged fraud.

More sentences with blackmail

  • My dear man, you ought to think twice about who you're trying to blackmail.From the entry dear
  • A provisory guarantee is rather like blackmail.From the entry provisory
  • What she's asking is nothing short of blackmail.From the entry nothing short of
  • Blackmail can be a cyber-enabled crime.From the entry cyber-enabled
  • There were two immigration related blackmailing or influence efforts against me.2000 November 13, Markku J. Saarelainen, “Some facts --- MY living in the U.S.A. in 1990's”, in alt.security (Usenet), archived from the…. From the entry haircuttery
  • 'You blackmailing hound,' the parrot said distinctly, in what Hodges recognized as General Derby's voice.1973, Elizabeth Walter, Come and Get Me and Other Uncanny Invitations. From the entry hound
  • It's a blackmail ring, and the district attorneys get a share of the loot.1928, Upton Sinclair, Boston. From the entry ring
  • Gronk, were you blackmailed into this Look?2019 November 25, Alyssa Vaughn, “It's Time To Talk About Gronk's Turtleneck”, in Boston Magazine. From the entry turt
  • But move they would — whether through nuclear blackmail, through subversion, with regular armed forces, or in some other manner.1971, Lyndon Johnson, “Challenge and Response: Vietnam 1964—1965”, in The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC…. From the entry power vacuum
  • For example, when a homosexual goes cruising, he runs the risk of being arrested, blackmailed or beaten up.1957 May, Richard Mayer, “Quote Cure Unquote... a la [Edward] Bergler”, in Mattachine Review, volume III, number 5, Los Angeles…. From the entry cruising
  • Because some government officials apparently talked out of turn, the Russians can now engage in ballistics blackmail with our allies.1957 June 13, Ruth Montgomery, “Leaders in Congress Fume at Lack of ICBM Security”, in St. Petersburg Times, retrieved 25 Sep 2008, page 2A. From the entry talk out of turn
  • I need a blackmail sub ?2025 June 3, @GoddessLollie, X (post), archived from the original on 12 Nov 2025. From the entry Prince Albert cage
  • “The risk that this monster bank can use its monopoly standing to blackmail the government and dictate its own regulation is enormous,” Wermuth said.2023 March 22, Philip Oltermann, quoting Cédric Wermuth, “Switzerland’s national pride dealt heavy blow by the merger of its banking…. From the entry too big to fail
  • Between his flaring vehophobia and Eaves' veiled threat of blackmail, this was the best he could do without causing a six-car pile-up.2018, Richard Brewer, Culprits: The Heist Was Just the Beginning. From the entry vehophobia
  • Edgerton, a high class, reputable lawyer, was called in of counsel from another city to lend respectability to the crooked, unprincipled, blackmailing pettifogger, Hughes."1926 June 28, “National Affairs: Blind Mans Huff”, in Time. From the entry pettifogger
  • This type of blackmail, where an LGBT person is entrapped, is known in Nigeria's gay community as "kito" - the exact origin of the term is unclear.2023 May 15, Ian Wafula, Tamasin Ford, “The Nigerians lured into a trap and blackmailed for being gay”, in BBC News. From the entry kito
  • If he asks for longer, then you start the blackmail by saying you've been honest with him by fronting it up before the deal rather than firing him afterwards.2016, John Uttley, Where's Sailor Jack?, →ISBN. From the entry front up
  • Which may explain why we broke the news at the Café de Flore a semester beforehand, over cafés liégeois and éclairs au chocolat, the blackmailing parent's best friends.2011, Penelope Rowlands, editor, Paris Was Ours, Algonquin Books, →ISBN, page 218. From the entry café liégeois

Meaning of blackmail

  1. noun The extortion of money or favors by threats of public accusation, critique, or exposure.
  2. noun Compromising material that can be used to extort someone.
  3. noun A type of roleplay where the submissive shares information that may be exploited by the dominant.

Full definition of blackmail

Questions about blackmail in a sentence

How do you use blackmail in a sentence?
Blackmail is used as a noun and verb. For example: “He blackmailed a businesswoman by threatening to expose an alleged fraud.”
What is a short sentence with blackmail?
“Blackmail can be a cyber-enabled crime.”
What does blackmail mean?
Blackmail means the extortion of money or favors by threats of public accusation, critique, or exposure.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: blackmail (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use blackmail in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/blackmail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.