black market
Illegal trade network
A black market is trade in goods or services that violates laws or regulations—either because the items themselves are illegal (drugs, weapons) or because the transaction evades taxes, price controls, or rationing.
The term suggests shadowy, underground commerce: They bought cigarettes on the black market.
Black market can modify other nouns: black market prices, black market dealers.
Illegal transport for profit
- smugglingIllegal covert transport
- money launderingDisguising criminal proceeds' origins
- racketeeringConducting illegal business schemes
- organized crimeStructured illegal enterprise
cartel · syndicate · kingpin · fence · mule · courier · drug trade · human trafficking
Fraudulent imitation
- bootlegIllegally produced goods
- piratedCopied without authorization
- smuggledMoved goods illegally
- stolenTaken unlawfully
knockoff · fake · replica · forgery · prohibited · banned · restricted · unlicensed
Inclined to conceal
- covertIntentionally concealed
- hiddenKept out of sight
- undergroundBelow ground or countercultural
- back-alleyClandestine, done covertly
under-the-radar · hush-hush · coded language · dead drop · front business · shell company · money mule · burner phone
Unrecorded commercial activity
- underground economyUnreported commercial activity
- unreportedNot officially documented
- unregulatedNot controlled by rules
- under-the-tableSecret and unofficial
untaxed · off-the-books · illicit trade · price gouging · currency manipulation · capital flight · economic sanctions · wartime economy
One who sells goods
- vendorOne who sells goods
- buyerOne who acquires things
- sellerOne who trades goods
- middlemanAgent linking two parties
broker · transaction · exchange · barter · supply chain · distribution · demand · scarcity
trafficking
Illegal transport for profit
- smugglingIllegal covert transport
- money launderingDisguising criminal proceeds' origins
- racketeeringConducting illegal business schemes
organized crime · cartel · syndicate · kingpin · fence · mule · courier · drug trade · human trafficking · extortion
counterfeit
Fraudulent imitation
stolen · knockoff · fake · replica · forgery · prohibited · banned · restricted · unlicensed · unauthorized
secretive
Inclined to conceal
- covertIntentionally concealed
- hiddenKept out of sight
- undergroundBelow ground or countercultural
back-alley · under-the-radar · hush-hush · coded language · dead drop · front business · shell company · money mule · burner phone · encrypted
shadow economy
Unrecorded commercial activity
- underground economyUnreported commercial activity
- unreportedNot officially documented
- unregulatedNot controlled by rules
under-the-table · untaxed · off-the-books · illicit trade · price gouging · currency manipulation · capital flight · economic sanctions · wartime economy · rationing
dealer
One who sells goods
middleman · broker · transaction · exchange · barter · supply chain · distribution · demand · scarcity · markup
- Dystopia1984, Nineteen Eighty-Four, dystopian fiction, totalitarianism, Brave New World
- arms tradearms trade, arms exports, arms dealer, arms trafficking, arms deals
- criminal schemesconspiracy, collusion, racketeering, kickback scheme, assassination plot
- economic systemscapitalism, mercantilism, communism, feudalism, socialism
- global crimehuman trafficking, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, terrorism, money laundering
- Postwar BritainAttlee, NHS, National Health Service, rationing, ration books