blackmail
noun/ˈblækmeɪl/
/ˈblækmeɪl/
[uncountable]- the crime of demanding money from a person by threatening to tell somebody else a secret about themTopics Crime and punishmentc1Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
- emotional
- moral
- economic
- …
- attempt
- threat
- plot
- …
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- the act of putting pressure on a person or a group to do something they do not want to do, for example by making threats or by making them feel guilty
- emotional/moral blackmail
- We can’t let them practise this emotional blackmail on us.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- emotional
- moral
- economic
- …
- attempt
- threat
- plot
- …
Word Originmid 16th cent. (denoting protection money levied by Scottish chiefs): from black + obsolete mail ‘tribute, rent’, from Old Norse mál ‘speech, agreement’.
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blackmail