blockbusting

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noun

A technique used to encourage people to sell their property by giving the impression that a neighborhood is changing for the worse, especially by implying a change in its racial makeup.

“a blockbusting movie”

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Meanings

nounblockbusting (uncountable)
  1. USuncountableA technique used to encourage people to sell their property by giving the impression that a neighborhood is changing for the worse, especially by implying a change in its racial makeup.

    Sonny W. Walker, another of the three black salesmen employed along with three whites by Concord Realty, 3524 Church Avenue, picked up the thread of Mr. Harris's bitter disclaimer that it took deliberate blockbusting—sometimes called panic redlining—to make whites move out of East Flatbush.

    1969 December 9, Linda Charlton, “'Blockbusting': Dilemma in East Flatbush Area”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
adjectiveblockbusting (not comparable)
  1. not comparableHaving the characteristics of a blockbuster; hugely successful.

    a blockbusting movie

Origin

From block + busting.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

blockbusting. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blockbusting

MLA

“blockbusting.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blockbusting. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “blockbusting,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blockbusting.

Source: blockbusting on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.