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. 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

verb

1. to sell (goods) on the black market

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.

Other Word Forms

• black marketeer noun

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

Example Sentences

But such measures often trigger unintended consequences - from thriving black markets and deaths from illicit brews, to enforcement challenges that drain state resources.

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Palestinians have told the BBC that many tents - brought in by international agencies and Gulf donors - have been stolen and are available on the black market in Gaza.

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All this makes competing with the black market—one of the long-touted goals of legalization—nearly impossible.

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The gleaming city is one of the most infamous of the hubs thriving in Myanmar's border regions, which have devolved into hives of black market activity since a civil war consumed the country in 2021.

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A pharmacist filmed selling Botox without seeing patients has been suspended from practice for 18 months after a BBC undercover investigation exposed a dangerous black market in injectable cosmetic drugs.

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