gray market

American  

noun

1. a market operating within the law but charging prices substantially below list prices or those fixed by an official agency.

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Etymology

Origin of gray market

First recorded in 1930–35; gray ¹ ( def. ) (in the sense “indeterminate or intermediate in character” + market ( )

Example Sentences

Part of the issue is a vast gray market and lack of regulation.

From Barron's • May 21, 2026

There are also questions about how people are obtaining the peptides they want in a regulatory gray market.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 15, 2026

But the group argues the public would be safer if peptides were handled by regulated compounding pharmacies instead of the gray market.

From Salon • Apr. 4, 2026

They are available on the gray market at huge discounts and are used for everything from weight loss to muscle recovery.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

There were also dark secrets people didn’t much talk about, along with a gray market of gossip that could spread the ill-informed rumor as fast as any IM or text network.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel