Meanings
- Illicit, obtained or sold furtively.
The village shop seemed to be a bastion of respectability but those in the know could obtain some very questionable under-the-counter material.
3 more examples
The frequency of under-the-counter selling is most difficult to ascertain.
1962, United States Congressional Serial Set, United States Government Printing Office1973, Robert Wallace Winslow, Crime in a Free Society: Selections from the President's Commission on Law Traffic and distribution of under-the-counter materials appears to be a very minor ... The total market in under-the-counter materials is estimated to be ...
1988, Gordon Hawkins and Franklin E. Zimring, Pornography in a Free Society, of material classified as "under-the-counter" was being openly exhibited and openly sold.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivedone or sold illicitly and secretly
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
under-the-counter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/under-the-counter
“under-the-counter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/under-the-counter. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “under-the-counter,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/under-the-counter.
Source: under-the-counter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.