black mark
noun
an indication of failure or censure: His chronic lateness is a black mark against him.
Origin of black mark
First recorded in 1835–45
Words nearby black mark
black magic,
black maire,
black maple,
black margate,
black maria,
black mark,
black market,
black mass,
black matipo,
black measles,
black medick
Example sentences from the Web for black mark
Rowe grinned when he said this, for he thought of the black-mark nonsense and realized that Frank took it in earnest.
Frank Merriwell's Return to Yale |Burt L. StandishThis was a black-mark day when she had neither, and she thought about her life more intently than usual.
Betty Leicester |Sarah Orne Jewett
British Dictionary definitions for black mark
black mark
noun
an indication of disapproval, failure, etc
Idioms and Phrases with black mark
black mark
An indication of censure or failure, as in If you refuse to work late, won't that be a black mark against you? This phrase alludes to a literal black mark, such as a cross, that was put next to a person's name, indicating that he or she had incurred a rebuke or penalty of some kind. [Mid-1800s]