blackmail means the extortion of money or favors by threats of public accusation, critique, or exposure. It carries an Arena rating of 1305, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, blackmail ranks #2,309 of 14,431 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #2,328 of 14,438 for Most Storied Words, #2,350 of 14,448 for Most Incisive Words, #2,357 of 14,297 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
blackmail is pronounced /ˈblækˌmeɪl/.
Why “blackmail” is a great word
The extortion of money or favors through threats of exposure, public accusation, or other harm to reputation. From black (in the sense of 'evil' or 'illicit') + mail (from Middle English 'male', meaning 'payment, rent, tribute', from Old English 'māl', 'agreement, payment'). Originally referred to a tribute paid to Scottish and English border chieftains for protection from raids (as opposed to 'white rent' paid in silver). Unlike extortion, which conjures the blunt threat of physical harm, or coercion, a broad spectrum of forced compliance, blackmail is a subtler, colder transaction, trading not in blows but in shadows. It is the rustle of a compromising letter in a quiet room, the photograph slipped from a folder, the meticulously itemized list of discretions left on a polished desk—a peculiar intimacy where the currency is shame and the only payment is a stolen silence.
Etymology
From black + mail (“a piece of money”). Compare Middle English blak rente (“a type of blackmail levied by Irish chieftains”).
The word is variously derived from the tribute paid by English and Scottish border dwellers to border reivers in return for immunity from raids and other harassment. This tribute was paid in goods or labour, in Latin reditus nigri (“black mail”); the opposite is blanche firmes or reditus albi (“white rent”), denoting payment by silver.
McKay derives it from two Scottish Gaelic words blàthaich, pronounced (the th silent) bl-aich, "to protect" and màl (“tribute, payment”). He notes that the practice was common in the Scottish Highlands as well as the Borders.
More likely, from black + Middle English mal, male, maile (“a payment, rent, tribute”), from Old English māl (
noun
- The extortion of money or favors by threats of public accusation, critique, or exposure.
- Compromising material that can be used to extort someone.
- Compromising material that can be used to extort someone.; A type of roleplay where the submissive shares information that may be exploited by the dominant.
- A form of protection money (or corn, cattle, etc.) anciently paid, in the north of England and south of Scotland, to the allies of robbers in order to be spared from pillage.
- Black rent; rent paid in corn, meat, or the lowest coin, as opposed to white rent, which was paid in silver.
verb
- To extort money or favors from (a person) by exciting fears of injury other than bodily harm, such as injury to reputation, distress of mind, false accusation, etc.“He blackmailed a businesswoman by threatening to expose an alleged fraud.”
- To speak ill of someone; to defame someone.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- ransom 83% match — Money paid for the freeing of a hostage. vs blackmail →
- malice 82% match — Intention to harm or deprive in an illegal or immoral way. Desire to take pleasure in another's misfortune. vs blackmail →
- embezzle 82% match — To steal or misappropriate money that one has been trusted with, especially to steal money from the organisation for which one works. vs blackmail →
- denigration 81% match — The act of making black; a blackening or defamation. vs blackmail →
- kompromat 81% match — Compromising material, blackmail material, (real or fabricated) evidence that a person does not want revealed, dirt. vs blackmail →
- calumny 81% match — A false accusation or charge brought to tarnish another's reputation or standing. vs blackmail →
- villainy 81% match — Evil or wicked character or behaviour. vs blackmail →
- duress 81% match — Harsh treatment. vs blackmail →