Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for black market

black market

1

noun

  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.


black-market

2

[ blak-mahr-kit ]

verb (used without object)

  1. to black-marketeer.

verb (used with object)

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

black market

noun

    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

  1. the place where such a system operates
“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


verb

  1. to sell (goods) on the black market
“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

black market

  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.


Discover More

Derived Forms

  • black marketeer, noun
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of black market1

First recorded in 1930–35

Origin of black market2

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

Example Sentences

The Arabs offered the Nazis a haven, as well as a market for all their nefarious dealings in arms and black market currency.

In the last days of the Soviet Union, there was a going black market in burned-out light-bulbs.

While the end of prohibition brought an end to the alcohol black market in America, the ubiquity of it brought its own problems.

Inside the country's only wildlife forensics lab, where scientists hunt down black-market animal smugglers.

Poaching fell off dramatically, and the black market price of ivory dropped.

It seemed to her that the men might be identified through Black Market operators with whom they must have dealings.

Nothing very reliable was available in the black market without more notice.

Even the most respectable businessmen were doing occasional business with the black market in technological devices.

Vernon Trask was the go-between for some of the biggest black market operators in the country.

There still were crooks who thought that the black market dealt in stolen goods of that sort.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


black markblack-marketeer