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
Nana Oye Ankrah, semafor.com, 21 July 2025
Neither did negotiations of any kind bring an end to the nuclear black market run by the Pakistani engineer, Abdul Qadeer Khan, which operated from the mid-1980s until 2003.
—Scott Montgomery, Forbes.com, 10 July 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
Nana Poku, who heads the Traders Advocacy Group Ghana trade union, said dollars are available on the black market but the high cost would be passed on to customers.
—Nana Oye Ankrah, semafor.com, 21 July 2025
Neither did negotiations of any kind bring an end to the nuclear black market run by the Pakistani engineer, Abdul Qadeer Khan, which operated from the mid-1980s until 2003.
—Scott Montgomery, Forbes.com, 10 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 24 Jul. 2025.
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