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
David Fear, Rolling Stone, 13 June 2025
But National Guard troops have themselves been implicated in various recent scandals, including killing civilians and trafficking in black-market gasoline.
—Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times, 2 June 2025
Summer Lin, Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2025
On the black market, placards go for as much as twenty-six hundred dollars.
—Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for black-market
Noun
Yes, this basic cable network’s stable of straight-outta-tabloid thrillers from that golden era ran the full gamut of a suburbanite’s nightmares, from husbands with double lives to black-market baby trafficking.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 13 June 2025
But National Guard troops have themselves been implicated in various recent scandals, including killing civilians and trafficking in black-market gasoline.
—Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times, 2 June 2025
Verb
Catalytic converters contain precious metals that make some of them worth more than $1,000 each on the black market.
—Summer Lin, Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2025
On the black market, placards go for as much as twenty-six hundred dollars.
—Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for black-market
Recent Examples of Synonyms for black-market
Noun
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The Nabataeans were an incredibly skilled trading tribe in the spice trade.—
Alex Ledsom,
Forbes.com,
2 July 2025
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But using a trade exception, which allows a team to acquire a player in a trade even if their salary would otherwise put the team over the salary cap or the team is already over the salary cap, hard caps teams at the first apron.—
Anthony Chiang,
Miami Herald,
1 July 2025
Verb
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The Justice Department indicted him in May on two counts of conspiring to smuggle and transport migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Ecuador into the U.S.—
Kaelan Deese,
The Washington Examiner,
25 June 2025
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To save the family, son Cane (Jake Weary) decides to start using the family’s fishing boat to smuggle drugs.—
Keith Langston,
People.com,
21 June 2025
Noun
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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
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The city is moving aggressively to shut down the once-thriving gray market — a matter of public safety, and also essential for the legal medical cannabis industry to thrive.—
Anna Spiegel,
Axios,
24 Apr. 2025
Verb
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The soul has been bartered away in 15-second increments, one TV commercial or finishing move kick-out at a time.—
Oliver Bateman,
The Washington Examiner,
30 May 2025
-
The day before the president’s birthday, the girl and her grandmother head to town with a shopping list of cake ingredients and Lamia’s book bag packed with an assortment of items to sell or barter.—
Sheri Linden,
HollywoodReporter,
16 May 2025
Noun
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Weekly analysis and insights from Asia’s largest economy in your inbox Subscribe now On Wednesday, Li urged global business leaders and senior government representatives to collaborate and avoid turning trade into a political or security issue.—
Evelyn Cheng,
CNBC,
26 June 2025
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As part of its long-term vision for responsible development, the county welcomes residents, business owners and civic stakeholders to attend and help shape growth management strategies.—
Orlando Sentinel Staff,
The Orlando Sentinel,
26 June 2025
Verb
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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
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In Chicago, as in other major cities, a few high-profile mobsters battled it out for bootlegging supremacy.—
Sarah Holzmann,
Smithsonian Magazine,
14 Feb. 2025
Noun
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But the underlying rails that power payments haven’t kept pace with the fluidity of today’s digital marketplaces.—
Paul Marcantonio,
Forbes.com,
2 July 2025
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The digital services tax is a 3% tax on revenue earned in the country from large online marketplace services, online advertising services, social media services and certain sales of user data.—
Ted Johnson,
Deadline,
30 June 2025
Verb
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Shares of private company can be exchanged by accredited investors in secondary markets; Republic will initially price SpaceX tokens based on how the company’s shares are performing there.—
Tanaya Macheel,
CNBC,
25 June 2025
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The magnetic appeal of Longboat Key after many visits as well as aging parents nearby had motivated us to exchange Wisconsin winters for seaside living in the Sunshine State.—
Michelle Johnson,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Black-market.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/black-market. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025.
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