Phrase guide

block booking

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌblɒk ˈbʊkɪŋ/
  • General-American: /ˌblɑk ˈbʊkɪŋ/
  • rhymes with -ʊkɪŋ

1

noun

Meaning 1

The reservation of a large number of hotel rooms, tickets, or other items at one time; (countable) an instance of this.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • The restaurant has a block booking for Saturday night.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The sale of multiple films by a film studio to a theater as a unit, without the latter knowing much about them, allowing the studio to package less popular films with more popular ones. The Supreme Court of the United States determined the practice to be in violation of antitrust law in 1948.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, historical, uncountable

Topics: broadcasting, film, media, television

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From block (“apportionment or grouping of like things treated together as a unit”, noun) + booking (noun).

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: iso varaus — reservation of a large number of hotel rooms, tickets, or other items at one time; an instance of this
  • Finnish: nippumyynti — sale of multiple films by a film studio to a theater as a unit