Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Informal The practice of persuading white homeowners to sell quickly and usually at a loss by appealing to the fear that minority groups and especially Black people will move into the neighborhood, causing property values to decline. The property is then resold at inflated prices.
Wiktionary
- n. US 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
- adj. Having the characteristics of a blockbuster; hugely successful.
Examples
“Just 50 years ago, so-called "blockbusting" led African-Americans into tight, white, ethno-centric neighborhoods of big cities such as Chicago and New York.”
“As early as the 1970s, Strupp explained, "blockbusting" practices developed as FHA loans were used by banks to get owners to sell quick, with the banks then reselling the homes to minorities at inflated prices.”
Congressional Hearing Looks into Wells Fargo Predatory Lending
“I really think you need to look into how white flight was encouraged by suburban developers through conscious tactics like "blockbusting".”
"Jake was treated like a second-class citizen because he was IZ."
“It managed to avoid the kind of blockbusting queues that greeted the launch of the iPhone in 2007 by allowing customers to pre-order the iPad online from March 12, offering the choice of home delivery or in-store collection.”
“Convinced that she had what it took to be a blockbusting star, Arista's influential president, Clive Davis, personally oversaw the recording of her first album.”
“Better still, India are over here in August for a blockbusting multiformat tour.”
The Guardian: IPL4 is the ideal accompaniment to the parochial intrigue of ECC112 | Barney Ronay
“With England also heavily present in the ICC Test match team of the year, where Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and James Anderson were also selected, the evening represented something of a coronation for Andy Flower, whose transformation of the muddled and occasionally timid collection of talented individuals he inherited into the current blockbusting Test match force and one-day pretenders has been remarkable.”
The Guardian: England's Jonathan Trott and Alastair Cook hit sixes at ICC awards
“The bigger the blockbusting characters live, the greater the fall that will at some point afflict them, while much of their success has to be won by a struggle against the odds that few of us would ever cheerfully embrace.”
Blockbusters and the Tao Te Ching « Tales from the Reading Room
“This retrospective explores both sides of Orozco's story: one part poet of the ephemeral, one part blockbusting art star.”
“In a world where miners habitually bemoan the dwindling number of blockbusting discoveries, the site 550 kilometers south of Ulan Bator stands out, with measured, indicated and inferred reserves of 81 billion pounds of copper and 46 million ounces of gold, worth around $300 billion at current market prices.”
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