boycott

present singular third person boycotts · participle present boycotting · participle past boycotted · past boycotted

1. transitiveTo abstain, either as an individual or a group, from using, buying, or dealing with someone or some organization as an expression of protest.

   Unbowed after two years in jail, nine of the defendants boycotted the trial, refusing even to talk to their lawyers.

   1998 July 3, James Brooke, “Anti-Government Freemen Are Found Guilty of Fraud”, in New York Times, retrieved 08 Aug 2012

   4 more examples

   There is probably not a citizen in the United States who wears a hat that has not heard of John Stetson, and does not know that the Stetson hat is one of if not the best made. For some cause the Knights [of Labor] have boycotted the Stetson hats, and have notified all dealers that if they sell them they also will be boycotted.

   1886 April 1, “Knights of Labor”, in Railway Conductors' Monthly, volume 3, number 4, Chicago, page 214

   But even if you weren't boycotting the film on the basis of its disgraceful necrobestiality theme, boycotting it on the basis of its vampires is reason enough.

   2012, Charlie Brooker, I Can Make You Hate

   Omar has challenged Elliott Abrams’s record in Latin America, taken a firm line against Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, and advocated for—wait for it—the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine (even though the headlines have focused on her expressing support for the right to boycott as a tactic).

   2019 September 10, Jonathan Guyer, The American Prospect, number Fall 2019

   Consumers are using boycotts as a tool to call corporations out for their support of Israel’s war on Gaza. Some companies have seen their sales decline as consumers continue to boycott them for their association with Israel.

   2023 December 14, Al Jazeera, Are the boycotts against Israel making an impact?, number Israel-Gaza war aftermath

   Synonyms: blackball, blacklist, black, cancel

plural boycotts

1. The act of boycotting.

   UFW and Chile solidarity boycotts of grapes had very little contact with one another, despite the extensive connections between California and Chilean fruit industries.

   2013 December 23, Heidi Tinsman, Buying into the Regime: Grapes and Consumption in Cold War Chile and the United States, Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 20

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   [W]hat has been the actual effects of the [UFW grape] boycott? As far as one can judge, it has cut down on the grape sales in a few big city outlets. But going into its second year, the boycott is losing steam. The middle class doesn't care.

   1969 December 19, John Chamberlain, “The Boycott is a Boomerang”, in Meriden Journal

   Labor movements are a primary arena in which the boycott has been used, most notably in the grape boycott from 1965 to 1978. The boycott has a long tradition in the United States that can be traced back to the Boston Tea Party, a boycott of English tea by settlers in the North American colonies. It is noteworthy that consumer boycotts can be used not only in the progressive spirit of social justice but also in the service of economic nationalism; for example, the various "Buy American" campaigns[.]

   2018 January 31, Sunaina Maira, Boycott!: The Academy and Justice for Palestine, Univ of California Press, →ISBN, page 36

   Synonyms: taboo

1. A hamlet in Stowe parish, Buckinghamshire, England (OS grid ref SP6636).
2. A surname.