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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

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Etymology

Origin of black market¹

First recorded in 1930–35

Origin of black-market²

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

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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

Dr Sahira Dar, a GP and chair of the British Islamic Medical Association, says healthcare professionals should ask about black market products "without judgement", so patients feel able to "disclose what they have taken".

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 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

He must have come by this in the same way he came by the magazines, not honestly: it reeks of black market.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

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

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

"Many migrants depend on black-market cylinders, and prices have gone up two to three times".

From Barron's ● Mar. 24, 2026

Unsurprisingly in such circumstances, the price of black-market fuel has skyrocketed.

From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2026

About seven months earlier, I’d obtained a set of IOI intranet passwords from the L33t HaxOrz Warezhaus, the same black-market data auction site where I’d purchased the information needed to create a new identity.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

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