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blackout Definition

black·out (blak′o̵ut′)

noun

    1. the extinguishing of all stage lights to end a play or scene
    2. a comic stage skit ending with a quick blackout
  2. an elimination or concealing of all lights that might be visible to an enemy, as during an air raid, at night
  3. a temporary loss of electricity in an area because of a failure in its generation or transmission
  4. a temporary loss of consciousness or vision
  5. a loss of memory of an event or fact
  6. suppression or concealment, as of news by censorship
  7. ☆ the prohibition of the televising of a sports event in the locality where the event takes place, so that attendance will not be reduced

blackout Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • suffer: He was brought to the surface and got out of the water, where he suffered blackouts, limb tremors and chest pain.
  • roll: Tentatively at first, with rolling blackouts and then with all it glory.
  • impose: The Blackout imposed on all civilians in all cities was absolute.
  • cause: We'll find out here what caused the blackout.

Adjective modifier

  • rolling: Scheduled rolling blackouts several days per week lasted for many years.
  • widespread: This caused widespread blackouts, which cost the Canadian national grid several million of pounds in damage to their systems.
  • frequent: As prodigious climbers, the snakes were blamed for frequent blackouts in the 1980s by shorting across lines and transformers.
  • massive: More than 1,250 homes and one of Shropshire's biggest retail parks were left without electricity earlier today during a massive power blackout.
  • electrical: Finely being court up in London's electrical blackout, fortunately we were not on the tube.
  • total: At the start of the second act I had to enter through the audience in a total blackout.

Modifies a noun

  • curtain: Having blackout curtains may also help you sleep better by keeping your room darker.
  • end: Leaving your front door open, knowing everybody that lives in your street, hoping the blackouts end soon.
  • blind: All rooms offer natural daylight & blackout blinds & are fully air-conditioned.
  • restriction: Despite blackout restrictions, the Luftwaffe had a relatively easy way of getting to London.
  • regulation: Blackout regulations have been condemned by the King's surgeon Wilfred Trotter.

Noun used with modifier

  • wartime: All too soon we would be in the Far east where we had wartime blackout conditions again.
  • media: There's not a complete media blackout of the game tho.
  • electricity: These ' magnetic storms ' disrupt radio communications and have even caused electricity blackouts.
  • news: The news blackout will not take effect here, on Kirkby Times, were free Speech isn't just a throwaway phrase.
  • power: A bodybuilder pumps iron during a power blackout at a gym in Baghdad.