blackmail

 Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++朗文当代英语 5++LDOCE 5++朗文 5++black·mail1 /ˈblækmeɪl/ ●○○ noun [uncountable]  1. THREATENwhen someone tries to get money from you or make you do what they want by threatening to tell other people your secrets 勒索，敲诈，讹诈2  THREATENwhen someone tries to make you do what they want by making threats or by making you feel guilty if you do not do it 胁迫；感情勒索 She had already tried emotional blackmail (=tried to make him feel guilty) to stop him leaving. 她试过以情相迫，不让他离开。

Examples from the Corpus

blackmail• She recounted the harassments and blackmail threats by Atkins and his undercover colleague.• It fostered an atmosphere of intimidation and blackmail within which realism came to sound like racism.• No, he used some pretty outrageous emotional blackmail on me.• Bates got a 5-year jail sentence for blackmail.• Damn McIllvanney, I thought, and damn his blackmail.• "If you don't give me the money, I'm going to tell your wife." "This is blackmail!"• This is a move that immediately suggests a preliminary to political blackmail.• Many elements in its tale of crime, rape, blackmail and luxury beyond dreams are duplicated in the Fujian affair.• He said Shooter, who admitted the blackmail plot at an earlier hearing, was an author of several works of fiction.• They said if I didn't do the overtime I'd lose my job - it was blackmail.• For drama, the old boyfriend shows up with blackmail on his mind.emotional blackmail• All the rest is emotional blackmail.• There is emotional blackmail over custody of the daughter.• Using the picture of a sad little kid in their advertisement seems like emotional blackmail.• It's not emotional blackmail - but once or twice recently, I've felt that I've nearly bought it.• Any relationship that has to depend on emotional blackmail can't be a healthy one.• This cleans the slate making it less likely that you will feel guilty or succumb to any future pressure or emotional blackmail.• No, he used some pretty outrageous emotional blackmail on me.• Some people even resort to emotional blackmail and games, which can end in making everyone unhappy.• She's always using emotional blackmail and playing on other people's feelings.• Be especially wary of using emotional blackmail.blackmail2 ●○○ verb [transitive]  THREATENto use blackmail against someone 勒索，敲诈；胁迫 He was jailed for four years for blackmailing gay businessmen. 他因敲诈同性恋商人而入狱四年。blackmail somebody into (doing) something I refuse to be blackmailed into making a quick decision. 我不会因为受到胁迫而作出仓促的决定。► see thesaurus at force —blackmailer noun [countable]→ See Verb table

Examples from the Corpus

blackmail• Ford had been blackmailing a gay naval officer.• To blackmail a man because he likes dressing in women's clothes.• You cannot blackmail a man who has nothing to hide.• Laura Channing was about to be blackmailed, and my money said Vecchi was the would-be collector on that deal, too.• The priest was being blackmailed by a woman who said he was the father of her child.• Was there an intention to try to blackmail her in some way as well as Derek?• The FBI blackmailed her into informing on the other members of the gang.• Gina tried to blackmail him, by threatening to tell his wife about their affair.• She had tried to use the photographs to blackmail him into marrying her.• Capshaw was going to try to blackmail him.• I am being blackmailed, in a way that the police can not help with.• We will not be blackmailed into silence.• It even crossed my mind that she might blackmail some one.• Nowhere is it easier to blackmail than in the criminal underworld and the grey areas of conduct that surround it.blackmail somebody into (doing) something• I reckoned I could blackmail him into a job.• James V blackmailed the papacy into allowing him to extort vast amounts of taxation from the church.• The waitress came round and blackmailed us into buying another cup of coffee.• We also know that the following day he blackmailed you into cocking up your career.• You've blackmailed me into spending money these past six years.• She bribed me with pasta and blackmailed me into writing a synopsis on my last night in Hawaii.From Longman Business Dictionaryblackmailblack‧mail1 /ˈblækmeɪl/ noun [uncountable]LAW demanding money from a person or organization by threatening them, for example threatening to tell secrets about them if they do not payMost of his wealth had been acquired through blackmail.blackmailblackmail2 verb [intransitive, transitive]LAW to demand money from a person or organization by threatening them, for example threatening to tell secrets about them if they do not paya man who blackmailed gay businessmen by threatening to expose their homosexuality→ See Verb tableOrigin blackmail1 (1500-1600) black + mail “payment” ((11-20 centuries)) (from Old Norse mal “speech, agreement”)

black·mail1 nounblackmail2 verbChineseSyllable  

you someone make or when money from to Business tries Corpus get you

blackmail

I

black‧mail¹ /ˈblækmeɪl/ noun [uncountable]1. when someone tries to get money from you or make you do what they want by threatening to tell other people your secrets
2. when someone tries to make you do what they want by making threats or by making you feel guilty if you do not do it:
    She had already tried emotional blackmail (=tried to make him feel guilty) to stop him leaving.

II

blackmail² verb [transitive]
to use blackmail against someone:
    He was jailed for four years for blackmailing gay businessmen.
    blackmail somebody into (doing) something
    I refuse to be blackmailed into making a quick decision.
—blackmailer noun [countable]
     

THESAURUS

   ▪ force to make someone do something they do not want to do. Used when people or situations make you do something: They were beaten and forced to confess to crimes they had not committed. | The drought forced millions of farmers to sell their cattle.
   ▪ make to force someone to do something by using pressure, threats, or violence. Make somebody do something is more common than force somebody to do something in everyday English: Her parents disapproved of Alex and they made her stop seeing him. | Two men with guns made the staff hand over the money.
   ▪ pressure (also pressurize British English) to try to force someone to do something by making them feel that they should do it: Some employers pressure their staff into working very long hours. | She felt they were trying to pressurize her into getting married.
   ▪ blackmail to force someone to give you money or do what you want by threatening to tell embarrassing secrets about them: She tried to blackmail him with photographs of them together at the hotel.
   ▪ compel [usually passive] formal to force someone to do something using official power or authority. Also used when someone has to do something because of their situation: The town was surrounded and compelled to surrender. | I felt compelled to offer them some kind of explanation. | You are compelled by law to carry an ID card.
   ▪ coerce /kəʊˈɜːs $ ˈkoʊɜːrs/ formal to force someone to do something by threatening them: Local people were coerced into joining the rebel army.
   ▪ be obliged to do something formal if someone is obliged to do something, they must do it because it is the law or the rule, or because of the situation they are in: You are not obliged to say anything which may harm your defence in court. | They were obliged to sell the land.