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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

Whether it's leather that's pre-cut in China or stitching that's done in Vietnam, these materials and expertise are almost certainly channelled into the region's black market.

From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026

California’s Assembly Bill 1127 does not explicitly name the Glock brand, but instead targets any handgun with a specific mechanism that can easily be converted by a black market device.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

Wildlife officers have busted an illegal cockroach-breeding operation in rural Australia, seizing a skin-crawling haul worth more than $100,000 on the black market for exotic bugs.

From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026

He added that "we know that there are a number of illicit retailers at the moment that are either taking supply from the black market or just not abiding by their legal obligations today".

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026

When we were most desperate, Father once again asked his friend Wojek, who lived outside the ghetto, to sell one on the black market.

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

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

The Bella 1 was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2024 for allegedly carrying black-market Iranian oil on behalf of U.S.-designated terrorist organizations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026

But evidence in three London house-share hotspots we examined suggests that in some places there are more unlicensed, black-market HMOs than there are legal ones.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2025

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