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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

The black market for irregularly mined gold represents millions of dollars that would have otherwise ended up in the Ivorian state's coffers.

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

Even beyond the black market, the glamorization of testosterone often glosses over the primary, life-altering side effect: reduced fertility.

From Slate ● Sep. 13, 2026

Police said they feared the Portinari works may have already been resold on the black market.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

“What is being sold on the black market is not a medicine — it is entirely unverified, unapproved and not worth the risk,” David Hyman, Lilly’s chief medical officer, said in a news release.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

Sometimes food was available on the black market, but one had to have something to exchange.

From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson

Yet, a majority voted to permit their production, arguing with a straight face that having “regulated peptides” was somehow better than letting people buy unvetted black-market remedies.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026

The black-market compound enters the U.S. from overseas suppliers, often based in China or India, and is sold by clinics and online sellers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

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

She offered to buy it for four thousand North Korean won, which was worth about four dollars at black-market exchange rates.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden