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
Thomas Meaney, New Yorker, 2 July 2025
Maybe dinosaurs will become highly desirable black-market items for those seeking exotic pets or cutting-edge weapons.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 1 July 2025
Megan Cartwright, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 Aug. 2025
Americana, which also stars Paul Walter Hauser and pop singer Halsey, follows local outsiders and outcasts in a small South Dakota town whose lives violently intertwine after a rare artifact falls onto the black market.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 17 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for black-market
Noun
At the ghetto wall, German soldiers shoot at Jewish children who had tunnelled beneath to find black-market exchanges.
—Thomas Meaney, New Yorker, 2 July 2025
Maybe dinosaurs will become highly desirable black-market items for those seeking exotic pets or cutting-edge weapons.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 1 July 2025
Verb
The crime thriller, which also features Halsey, Paul Walter Hauser and Eric Dane, follows the story of North Dakota outsiders who clash over the possession of a rare Native American artifact, which lands on the black market.
—Megan Cartwright, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 Aug. 2025
Americana, which also stars Paul Walter Hauser and pop singer Halsey, follows local outsiders and outcasts in a small South Dakota town whose lives violently intertwine after a rare artifact falls onto the black market.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 17 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for black-market
Recent Examples of Synonyms for black-market
Noun
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The move seeks to turn up the heat on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine, but risks further destabilizing global trade relations.—
Chloe Taylor,Holly Ellyatt,
CNBC,
10 Sep. 2025
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But the Dolphins could offer to pay some of his remaining salary, in order to potentially secure a higher draft pick in a trade.—
Barry Jackson,
Miami Herald,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Federal agents stopped three boats that were en route to South Florida from the Bahamas and were smuggling large loads of cocaine and dozens of Chinese migrants last week, according to court documents.—
David Goodhue,
Miami Herald,
5 Sep. 2025
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Ten minutes from Stowe is Smugglers’ Notch State Park, named for the narrow pass in the Green Mountains through which Vermonters used to smuggle goods from Canada in the 1800s.—
Sophie Friedman,
AFAR Media,
4 Sep. 2025
Noun
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New research is shedding light on the inner workings of the multimillion-dollar gray market for video game cheats.—
Lily Hay Newman,
Wired News,
16 Aug. 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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For weeks leading up to the election, judges barter for their votes with candidates and make deals for which court system, division and courthouse they will be assigned to, and power players jockey for the supervisory placements, or presiding judge positions, by promising a bloc of loyal votes.—
Paul Vallas,
Chicago Tribune,
29 Aug. 2025
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Riz Ahmed’s Ash is the relay mastermind who will barter the deal, keep Sarah alive from reprisals and handle the sizable cash payment.—
Stephen Schaefer,
Boston Herald,
20 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Others, like pain points and thought leaders, seem like things that AI got from business buzzword dictionaries.—
John Werner,
Forbes.com,
7 Sep. 2025
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Its adtech business, which manages advertising on third-party websites, is not publicly broken out.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
6 Sep. 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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Months after the 2021 policy implementation, Bueckers signed her first NIL deal, a multiyear partnership with apparel and sneaker marketplace StockX.—
Sasha Rogelberg,
Fortune,
9 Sep. 2025
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The company offers a marketplace for home equity loan originators to sell loans on the blockchain, as well as makes home equity loans, some which are backed by cryptocurrency.—
Megan Poinski,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Three weeks later in London, the same service required a bank transfer – no cash accepted, no cards processed, just account details exchanged securely and payment completed in seconds.—
Penny Lee,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
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Parents lined up on a sidewalk outside Bergen Meadow Elementary School, waiting to reunite with their children, exchanging hugs and quiet conversation.—
Katie Langford,
Denver Post,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Black-market.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/black-market. Accessed 12 Sep. 2025.
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