intransitive verb
Definition 1
Trade in illicit commodities, carry on illegal commerce.
Source: Invertext
Context: It's a commonplace that Abraham Lincoln never trafficked in slaves, much less owned them -- indeed, he "freed the slaves".
Source: www.gvsu.edu
Definition 2
Trade in goods and commodities or things treated as such.
Source: Invertext
Context: Those formations [Bloomsbury, Greenwich Village] had an internal, literary coherence and trafficked in a high-art form of the written culture that was the stuff of daily cultural and social debate.
Source: stephenhenighan.com
Note
This verb is slightly irregular in that it adds a 'k' after the 'c' in the past tense and in the present and past participles (trafficked, trafficking, trafficked). Adding a 'k' to the third person singular of the present tense (he/she/it trafficks) appears to be optional. With respect to usage, the Shorter Oxford Dictionary notes: "In a disparaging sense, or said of dealing considered improper".
Appears in the following subjects