Blackballed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To deliberately prevent a person from being accepted into a group or organization as a result of a consensus vote against them
2. To collectively decide to refuse entry or membership to someone based on disapproval or negative sentiment
3. To exclude someone from a group or organization by means of a secret vote that indicates disagreement or disapproval

Etymology: "Blackballed" is the past form of "blackball," and the verb's origin lies in a literal voting practice. Members of a club or society once voted by dropping balls into a box: a white ball signaled approval and a black ball signaled rejection. A single black ball was enough to keep a candidate out, so to be blackballed meant to be shut out by one dropped ball of dark disapproval. The word itself is simply a compound of "black" and "ball," with no hidden foreign root. What makes it striking is how literal the image is: the ballot was a physical object, and the verb describes the act of casting it against someone. The sense of exclusion came from that small, concrete moment in the voting box, and it has remained attached to private clubs and organizations ever since.

Synonyms: excluded, ostracized