black economy

British

noun

that portion of the income of a nation that remains illegally undeclared either as a result of payment in kind or as a means of tax avoidance

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Yopougon has a large black economy and the local industrial estate "only offers very seasonal and fairly insecure job opportunities", Kouame explained.

From Barron's • Oct. 17, 2025

But former Blair-era minister Clive Betts warned the border system "continue to fail" without proper exits checks leaving a risk of people staying illegally and working in "the black economy".

From BBC • May 8, 2025

Invisible, he worked odd jobs in Tehran’s sprawling subterranean black economy.

From The Guardian • Dec. 18, 2020

Economists reckon that India’s black economy accounts for at least 20% of GDP.

From Economist • Dec. 1, 2016

And I dismissed the Nation of Islam’s demand for a separate black economy in America, which I had also heard before, as willful, and even mischievous, nonsense.

From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023