black ball
Vote someone out
To black ball someone is to exclude them from a group or organization, typically through a secret vote.
The term comes from the practice of voting with colored balls—a black ball cast into a ballot box meant rejection.
Someone who has been blackballed is shut out, often permanently: After the scandal, he was blackballed from the industry.
Also spelled as one word: blackball.
- ostracizeExclude from a group
- excludeBar from participation
- rejectDismiss as unsuitable
- cast outForcibly remove or expel
- banOfficial restriction on something
shun · snub · secret ballot · vote · pool · cue · billiards · eight · sphere · orb · veto · social outcast · outcast · expel · boycott · negative · sinister · dark