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• black market
  black market

  noun

  the illicit buying and selling of goods in violation of legal price controls, rationing, etc.
• black-market
  black-market

  verb (used without object)

  to black-marketeer.

black market

¹ American  

noun

black markets plural

1. the illicit buying and selling of goods in violation of legal price controls, rationing, etc.

2. a place where such activity is carried on.

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black-market ² American  

[blak-mahr-kit] / ˈblækˈmɑr kɪt /

verb (used without object)

1. to black-marketeer.

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verb (used with object)

1. to sell (something) in the black market.

black market British  

noun

1. 1. any system in which goods or currencies are sold and bought illegally, esp in violation of controls or rationing

   2. ( as modifier )

      black market lamb

2. the place where such a system operates

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verb

1. to sell (goods) on the black market

black market Cultural  

1. The illegal buying and selling of goods above the price fixed by a government. Black markets usually develop when, because of war, disaster, or public policy, a government tries to set prices for commodities instead of allowing the normal operations of supply and demand to set prices.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• black marketeer
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• black markets
  plural

Etymology

Origin of black market¹

First recorded in 1930–35

Origin of black-market²

First recorded in 1930–35; v. use of black market

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

black market black-market

Whether it's leather that's pre-cut in China or stitching that's done in Vietnam, these materials and expertise are almost certainly channelled into the region's black market.

From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026

In an April social media post, Kennedy criticized the FDA’s failure to approve more peptides—for “driving a dangerous black market that puts Americans at risk.”

From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026

Van Zeller, 50, has won dozens of awards for the program that has taken her around the world to report on black market activities and human trafficking.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026

Romanée-Conti’s high demand and hefty price has also motivated thieves and counterfeiters, helping to foster a black market for rare spirits, where shady dealers and covetous buyers are willing to ignore a bottle’s provenance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026

She knew people sold wheat and rice on the black market, because she had seen it on the tables.

From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata

Holocaust Memorial Museum describes the program as a coordinated effort to strip communities of cultural identity while redistributing art through state and black-market channels.

From Salon ● May 9, 2026

Soaring black-market prices of cooking gas in India's capital are pushing poorer families back to wood and coal, raising health risks and worsening air quality in the highly polluted megacity.

From Barron's ● Mar. 24, 2026

Relatives of Flores, Maduro’s wife, controlled financing at Petróleos de Venezuela SA, the state oil company known as PdVSA, and black-market oil sales, and engaged in money laundering, according to U.S. prosecutors and Venezuela experts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026

But the vast availability of U.S.-origin, black-market weapons undermines Mexico’s strict guidelines.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2025

I thought the soldiers would be against such black-market foreign exchange, but they didn’t seem to care.

From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah