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
David Nolan, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 July 2025
Cracking down on pain prescriptions has driven those suffering unbearable pain to dangerous black-market drugs.
—The Editorial Board, Oc Register, 6 July 2025
Brendan Rascius
july 8, Miami Herald, 8 July 2025
The Pyongyang regime also bought technology and hardware abroad through front companies or on the black market, according to U.N. monitors.
—Dan De Luce, NBC news, 28 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for black-market
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Verb
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
Cracking down on pain prescriptions has driven those suffering unbearable pain to dangerous black-market drugs.
—The Editorial Board, Oc Register, 6 July 2025
Noun
Because of this, countries seeking out nuclear weapons often must turn to black markets or other clandestine methods in order to obtain the raw materials for fissile material — which is time-consuming and expensive.
—Brendan Rascius
july 8, Miami Herald, 8 July 2025
The Pyongyang regime also bought technology and hardware abroad through front companies or on the black market, according to U.N. monitors.
—Dan De Luce, NBC news, 28 June 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 15 Jul. 2025.
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