black-mar·ket
ˈblak-ˈmär-kət 
black-marketed; black-marketing; black-markets
: to buy or sell goods in the black market
: to sell in the black market
: illicit trade in goods or commodities in violation of official regulations
also
: a place where such trade is carried on
Examples of black-market in a Sentence
Noun
The black market in prescription drugs is thriving.
They unloaded the stolen goods on the black market.
Recent Examples on the Web
Franklin Foer, The Atlantic, 4 Aug. 2025
In the 1960s, amid an international wave of conservation concern and critical population estimates falling into the thousands, researchers and biologists sounded the alarm on the impending collapse of the vicuña from black-market wool hunters.
—David Nolan, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 July 2025
Audrey Gibbs, The Tennessean, 14 Aug. 2025
The soldier who diverted it to the black market was never identified.
—Seth Harp, Rolling Stone, 28 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for black-market
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Verb
Food, in his government’s analysis, had become a weapon used by Hamas to sustain its fighters, reward loyalty, and replenish its armaments through black-market profiteering.
—Franklin Foer, The Atlantic, 4 Aug. 2025
In the 1960s, amid an international wave of conservation concern and critical population estimates falling into the thousands, researchers and biologists sounded the alarm on the impending collapse of the vicuña from black-market wool hunters.
—David Nolan, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 July 2025
Noun
The movie, filmed in 2022, follows the story of a waitress and military veteran seeking a rare Lakota Ghost shirt, which has fallen onto the black market in a small town.
—Audrey Gibbs, The Tennessean, 14 Aug. 2025
The soldier who diverted it to the black market was never identified.
—Seth Harp, Rolling Stone, 28 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for black-market
Cite this Entry
“Black-market.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/black-market. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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