black sheep
n.
1. A sheep with black fleece.
2. One who is considered disreputable or disgraceful by his or her relatives or associates.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
black sheep
n
a person who is regarded as a disgrace or failure by his family or peer group
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
black′ sheep′
n.
a person who causes shame or embarrassment because of deviation from the accepted standards of his or her group.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
black sheep
Someone who brings disgrace, especially to a family; from the idea that most sheep are white and a black one would be both conspicuous and undesirable.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
| Noun | 1. |  black sheep - a reckless and unprincipled reprobate |
| 2. |  black sheep - sheep with a black coat sheep - woolly usually horned ruminant mammal related to the goat |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
black sheep
noun disgrace, rebel, maverick, outcast, renegade, dropout, prodigal, individualist, nonconformist, ne'er-do-well, reprobate, wastrel, bad egg (old-fashioned informal), wrong 'un (informal) the black sheep of the family
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations
černá ovce
sorte får
das schwarze Schafschwarzes Schaf
fekete bárány
svartur sauîur
čierna ovca
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
black
(blӕk) adjective1. of the colour in which these words are printed. black paint.
2. without light. a black night; The night was black and starless.
3. dirty. Your hands are black!; black hands from lifting coal.
4. without milk. black coffee.
5. evil. black magic.
6. (often offensive. currently acceptable in the United States, South Africa etc) Negro, of African, West Indian descent.
7. (especially South Africa) coloured; of mixed descent (increasingly used by people of mixed descent to refer to themselves).
noun1. the colour in which these words are printed. Black and white are opposites.
2. something (eg paint) black in colour. I've used up all the black.
3. (often with capital. often offensive: currently acceptable in the United states, South Africa etc) a Negro; a person of African, West Indian etc descent.
verb to make black.
ˈblackness nounˈblacken verb
1. to make or become black. The sky blackened before the storm.
2. to make to seem bad. She blackened his character.
3. to clean with black polish. He blackened his boots.
black art/magic magic performed for evil reasons. He tries to practise black magic.
ˈblackbird noun a dark-coloured bird of the thrush family.
ˈblackboard noun a dark-coloured board for writing on in chalk (used especially in schools).
black box a built-in machine for automatic recording of the details of a plane's flight. They found the black box two miles away from the wreckage of the crashed plane.
the Black Death noun the plague that killed large numbers of people in Europe in the 14th to 18th centuries.
black eye an eye with bad bruising around it (eg from a punch). George gave me a black eye.
ˈblackhead noun a small black-topped lump in a pore of the skin, especially of the face.
ˈblacklist noun a list of people who are out of favour etc.
verb to put (a person etc) on such a list.
ˈblackmail verb to obtain money illegally from (a person), usually by threatening to make known something which the victim wants to keep secret.
noun the act of blackmailing. money got by blackmail.
ˈblackmailer nounBlack Maria (məˈraiə)
a prison van. The policeman took the three suspects to the police station in a Black Maria.
black market (a place for) the illegal buying and selling, at high prices, of goods that are scarce, rationed etc. coffee on the black market.
black marketeer a person who sells goods on the black market.
ˈblackout noun1. a period of darkness produced by putting out all lights. Accidents increase during a blackout.
2. a ban (on news etc). a blackout of news about the coup.
3. a period of unconsciousness. He has had several blackouts during his illness.
4. a brief, temporary loss of memory, as when an actor forgets his/her lines.
5. (also outage) a period of a general power failure.
6. (in the theatre) the putting out of the stage lights at the end of a scene etc.
black sheep a member of a family or group who is unsatisfactory in some way. My brother is the black sheep of the family.
ˈblacksmith noun a person who makes and repairs by hand things made of iron. The blacksmith made a new shoe for the horse.
black and blue badly bruised. After the fight the boy was all black and blue.
black out to lose consciousness. He blacked out for almost a minute.
in black and white in writing or print. Would you put that down in black and white?
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.