Meaning

Involving sophisticated clandestine methods for gaining unauthorized entry and obtaining information..

Definitions by Sense

1. Involving sophisticated clandestine methods for gaining unauthorized entry and obtaining information.
2. To break in to a place without authorization as part of a clandestine operation.
3. To kidnap in order to make someone disappear (as opposed to kidnapping for ransom).

Example Sentences

Watergate turned out to be a black-bag operation by former CIA employees.

Holden's SEAL training had covered clandestine penetrations, but never black-bag jobs

Con Keeler was past his fortieth birthday and a veteran of more black-bag jobs than he could count.

In an interesting coda that perhaps presaged the black-bag jobs of the Watergate era, an unknown person or persons broke into Dr. Parr's office on New York's Forty-second street in 1926, gained access to the safe, and stole President Grant's, Mrs. Grant's, and President Chester Arthur's dentures.

He'd been tapped, bugged, and black-bagged under Nixon and Clinton, and under the present conditions all the cops needed to listen in was a thumbs-up from an Eagle Scout or better.

Nothing jimmied. Nothing damaged. She'd been black-bagged by a pro.

Before dawn, NEST black-bagged Ivan's building — not the Nuclear Emergency Search Teams, their shadows whose S stands for Strike. They pulled all hazmat out of the medical imaging office, substituted fake material, and broke the machines so nobody will wonder when they don't work.

When witches and demons caused enough trouble, the Union had a tendency to black-bag the baddies and toss them into a detention center.

Word Forms

• black bag
• blackbag
• black-bags
• black-bagging
• black-bagged

Related Words

When Should You Use Black-bag?

Use black-bag when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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