To deny or discriminate against an area, business, or person, especially by refusing to provide services or investment; historically refers to marking areas on maps with red lines to exclude them.
From the practice of marking maps with red lines to indicate areas considered too risky for investment or services. The term emerged in the civil rights era when it was explicitly used to discriminate against Black neighborhoods.
Redlining was a systematic, legal policy that created lasting wealth disparities—banks literally outlined minority neighborhoods in red to deny them mortgages and investment, which prevented generations from building wealth through homeownership. The maps are now in museums as examples of institutionalized racism.
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