as in trade
a system through which things are bought and sold illegally
The black market in prescription drugs is thriving. They unloaded the stolen goods on the black market.
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as in to smuggle
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of black-market
Charles Trepany, USA Today, 18 June 2025
Many made their own, reused them, or bought them at black-market prices.
—Will Ripley, CNN Money, 18 June 2025
Dan De Luce, NBC news, 28 June 2025
The movie, which world premiered at SXSW 2023, follows the lives of local outsiders and outcasts who violently intertwine when a rare Lakota Ghost shirt falls onto the black market in a small South Dakota town.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 16 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for black-market
Noun
Yikes: People are getting black-market silicone injected into their butts.
—Charles Trepany, USA Today, 18 June 2025
Many made their own, reused them, or bought them at black-market prices.
—Will Ripley, CNN Money, 18 June 2025
Verb
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
The movie, which world premiered at SXSW 2023, follows the lives of local outsiders and outcasts who violently intertwine when a rare Lakota Ghost shirt falls onto the black market in a small South Dakota town.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 16 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for black-market
Recent Examples of Synonyms for black-market
Noun
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Perhaps the most important observation here is how the LNG trade has shifted from a few key producers to a broad mix of suppliers across five continents.—
Robert Rapier,
Forbes.com,
15 July 2025
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The potential trade idea would also reunite Morton with Alex Bregman and Alex Cora, who shared the dugout when the Houston Astros won the 2017 World Series.—
Tim Crowley,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 July 2025
Verb
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Yemen’s National Resistance Forces released new footage of the interception of a vessel smuggling Iranian weapons to the Houthis in the Red Sea.—
Amir Daftari,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 July 2025
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The fentanyl was then smuggled by the Sinaloa cartel’s couriers, using vehicles and tunnels that went from Tijuana and other border locations into the U.S., according to the plea.—
Jason Meisner,
Chicago Tribune,
11 July 2025
Noun
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Existing in somewhat of a gray market in Maryland over the past several years, local hemp businesses have been able to grow, process and sell their products without the need for a cannabis license.—
Dan Belson,
Baltimore Sun,
16 June 2025
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You shouldn’t be worried as long as the filler is FDA-approved, purchased from a legitimate source (not gray market) and injected by a qualified professional.—
Carlos Wolf,
Miami Herald,
19 June 2025
Verb
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Our community’s green space has been treated as expendable, bartered away for the benefit of an outside sports franchise.—
John Herbst,
Sun Sentinel,
5 July 2025
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But while metal coins were more convenient than bartering, they were limited by the ability to mine precious metals.—
Joseph States,
Chicago Tribune,
30 May 2025
Noun
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With a bout against WBA champion Fernando Daniel Martinez already confirmed for November, Rodriguez must first take care of business against a dangerous and determined Cafu.—
Kilty Cleary,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 July 2025
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Earlier that year, McArthur was also convicted of fraud and racketeering charges related to her family’s jukebox and gaming machine business and was sentenced to seven years in state prison, per the Pensacola News Journal.—
Emily Blackwood,
People.com,
19 July 2025
Verb
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The fact we’re getting bootlegged and people are grabbing our voices and using ’em, rap needs to be taken as serious as any other genre!—
Mackenzie Cummings-Grady,
Billboard,
11 July 2025
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In 1920s Anaheim, the big local issue was bootlegging and Catholics, who were seen as foreigners in what was supposed to be an Anglo-Saxon Protestant country.—
Gustavo Arellano,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Advertisement Of course, there’s not a whole lot regulators can do to make a marketplace more competitive.—
Alana Semuels,
Time,
15 July 2025
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There’s quite simply no way, short of Nvidia retreating from the marketplace altogether, that the world won’t see its technology.—
John Tamny,
Forbes.com,
14 July 2025
Verb
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Twinkly lights and ribbons lined the airplane's interior when Meli and Power stood at the front of the cabin to exchange vows.—
Rachel Raposas,
People.com,
18 July 2025
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One ad features past praise exchanged between Trump and Epstein, implying deeper ties to the disgraced financier.—
Amanda Castro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Black-market.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/black-market. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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