blackmail
/ˈblækˌmeɪl/ verb C2- 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.
He/she/it blackmails · Past blackmailed · Past participle blackmailed · -ing form blackmailing
Verb forms
- Base form
- blackmail
- He/she/it
- blackmails
- Past
- blackmailed
- Past participle
- blackmailed
- -ing form
- blackmailing
From the library
Acton’s, and having thus got them into his power, proceeded, under threats of exposure, to levy blackmail upon them.
No doubt his blackmailing case is absorbing all his faculties.
I thought that you were in Baker Street working out that case of blackmailing.”
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