Black Sheep - Wiktionary

Jump to content

Contents

move to sidebar hide

• Beginning
• 1 English Toggle English subsection
  • 1.1 Pronunciation
  • 1.2 Noun
    • 1.2.1 Translations
    • 1.2.2 See also

• Entry
• Discussion

English

• Read
• Edit
• View history

Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions

• Read
• Edit
• View history

General

• What links here
• Related changes
• Upload file
• Permanent link
• Page information
• Cite this page
• Get shortened URL
• Download QR code

Print/export

• Create a book
• Download as PDF
• Printable version

In other projects Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

[edit]

Pronunciation

[edit]

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

[edit]

black sheep (plural black sheep)

1. (idiomatic) A nonconformist; an unusual or unconventional person, who may be rejected or disdained by others for this reason. Synonyms: see Thesaurus:maverick He was the black sheep in the family, as an artist among doctors and lawyers.
2. (idiomatic) A person who is not wholesome, honest, or trustworthy. Synonym: bad apple Antonym: golden child
   • 1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter LXXI, in Middlemarch […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book VII:“It’s just what I should have expected,” said Mr. Hawley, mounting his horse. “Any cursed alien blood, Jew, Corsican, or Gypsy.”¶ “I know he’s one of your black sheep, Hawley. But he is really a disinterested, unworldly fellow,” said Mr. Farebrother, smiling.
   • 2003 April 10, Adam Shatz, “The Native Informant”, in The Nation(US)‎[1], archived from the original on 27 June 2014:Kissinger, after all, is a figure of renown among the self-appointed leaders of "the people from whom he stems" and a frequent speaker at Jewish charity galas, whereas Ajami is a man almost entirely deserted by his people, a pariah at what should be his hour of triumph. In Arnoun, a family friend told me, "Fouad is a black sheep because of his staunch support for the Israelis."
   • 2021-2022 Winter, Albert Keiser, “Foundation Request”, in SAR Magazine, volume 116, number 3, Louisville, KY: Sons of the American Revolution, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 12, column 1:To get into the SAR, we all do a great deal of research into our families. It can help you connect with your family and learn about your ancestors. If you have a black sheep (we all do), you can learn from them and not do whatever it was that they did. The SAR gives you experiences you wouldn't have had otherwise.
3. (idiomatic) A worker who refuses to strike; a scab.
   • 1985, Bryn Perrins, Trade Union Law, page 232:It used to be the law that a black sheep could be brought into the fold of conformity: where there were 'recognised terms of employment – a standard created by a collective agreement or award covering a substantial proportion of the employers and workers in any trade or industry […]
4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see black,‎ sheep. Baa baa black sheep have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, Three bags full.

Translations

[edit] nonconformist

Chinese: Mandarin: 不墨守成规者 Dutch: zwart schaap n Finnish: musta lammas (fi) French: original (fr), excentrique (fr) m or f German: schwarzes Schaf (de) n Greek: μαύρο πρόβατο n (mávro próvato) Hebrew: כִּבְשָׂה שְׁחֹרָה (he) f (kivsá shkhorá) Hungarian: fekete bárány Latvian: melnā avs f, baltais zvirbulis m Polish: czarna owca (pl) f Portuguese: ovelha negra (pt) f Russian: бе́лая воро́на (ru) f (bélaja voróna, literally “white crow”) Scottish Gaelic: caora dhubh f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: цр̑на̄ о́вца f, бије̑ла̄ вра̏на / бе̑ла̄ вра̏на f Latin: cȓnā óvca f, bijȇlā vrȁna (sh) f / bȇlā vrȁna (sh) f Swedish: svart får Turkish: kara koyun Ukrainian: біла ворона (uk) (bila vorona)

person who is not wholesome

Chinese: Mandarin: 害群之馬 / 害群之马 (zh) (hàiqúnzhīmǎ), 敗類 / 败类 (zh) (bàilèi) Danish: sort får n Dutch: zwart schaap n Esperanto: idaĉo Finnish: musta lammas (fi) French: mouton noir (fr) m, brebis galeuse (fr) f, vilain petit canard (fr) m German: schwarzes Schaf (de) n Greek: μαύρο πρόβατο n (mávro próvato) Icelandic: svartur sauður m Italian: pecora nera (it) f Japanese: 厄介者 (ja) (やっかいもの, yakkaimono) Malay: kambing hitam Polish: czarna owca (pl) f Portuguese: ovelha negra (pt) f Russian: парши́вая овца́ (ru) f (paršívaja ovcá) (scabby sheep) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: цр̑на̄ о́вца f, бије̑ла̄ вра̏на / бе̑ла̄ вра̏на f Latin: cȓnā óvca f, bijȇlā vrȁna (sh) f / bȇlā vrȁna (sh) f Spanish: oveja negra (es) f Swedish: svart får n

See also

[edit]

• dark horse
• prodigal son
• red-headed stepchild
• white sheep

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=black_sheep&oldid=89378559" Categories:

• English terms with audio pronunciation
• English lemmas
• English nouns
• English countable nouns
• English multiword terms
• English idioms
• English terms with usage examples
• English terms with quotations
• en:People
• en:Sheep
• en:Colors
• en:Blacks
• en:Idioms about Colors

Hidden categories:

• Pages with entries
• Pages with 1 entry
• Quotation templates to be cleaned
• Entries with translation boxes
• Terms with Mandarin translations
• Terms with Dutch translations
• Terms with Finnish translations
• Terms with French translations
• Terms with German translations
• Terms with Greek translations
• Terms with Hebrew translations
• Terms with Hungarian translations
• Terms with Latvian translations
• Terms with Polish translations
• Terms with Portuguese translations
• Terms with Russian translations
• Terms with Scottish Gaelic translations
• Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations
• Terms with Swedish translations
• Terms with Turkish translations
• Terms with Ukrainian translations
• Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations
• Terms with Danish translations
• Terms with Esperanto translations
• Terms with Icelandic translations
• Terms with Italian translations
• Terms with Japanese translations
• Terms with Malay translations
• Terms with Spanish translations

Search Search Toggle the table of contents black sheep 16 languages Add topic