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In the 1870s, Irish farmers faced an agricultural crisis that threatened to result in a repeat of the terrible famine and mass evictions of the 1840s. Anticipating financial ruin, they formed a Land League to campaign against the rent increases and evictions landlords were imposing as a result of the crisis. When retired British army captain Charles Boycott, acting as an agent for an absentee landlord, tried to evict tenant farmers for refusing to pay their rent, he was ostracized by the League and community. His laborers and servants quit, and the crops in his care began to rot. Boycott’s fate was soon well known, and his name became a byword for that particular protest strategy, both as a verb and as a noun. Across the Atlantic three-quarters of a century later, boycotts such as the Montgomery bus boycott were pivotal components of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.
Examples of boycott in a Sentence
Fahad Shah, The Christian Science Monitor, 30 Sep. 2024
Caught on camera, the wolf seen lying on a bar floor in Sublette County led to calls to boycott Wyoming's $4.8 billion-a-year tourism industry centered on Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, which comprise a prime wolf habitat not far from where the wolf was struck.
—CBS News, 30 Sep. 2024
In 2017, the Arkansas Legislature passed a law prohibiting public entities from contracting with and investing in companies that boycott Israel, arguing that companies that refuse to deal with the Israeli government for political reasons are engaging in discrimination.
—Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY, 15 Sep. 2024
There was weakness in China, falling prices in India and operational challenges in Indonesia where shoppers have been boycotting western brands over the war in Gaza.
—Owen Tripp, Fortune Europe, 24 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for boycott 
Dictionary Entries Near boycott
Cite this Entry
“Boycott.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boycott. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
boycott
transitive verb
Note: A boycott of a business by its competitors, suppliers, or buyers that has the effect of preventing the business's access to the market is a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
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