contraband

con·tra·band

noun \ˈkän-trə-ˌband\

Definition of CONTRABAND

1

: illegal or prohibited traffic in goods : smuggling

2

: goods or merchandise whose importation, exportation, or possession is forbidden; also : smuggled goods

3

: a slave who during the American Civil War escaped to or was brought within the Union lines

— contraband adjective

Examples of CONTRABAND

1. The border police searched the car for drugs and other contraband.

Origin of CONTRABAND

Italian contrabbando, from Medieval Latin contrabannum, from contra- + bannus, bannum decree, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German bannan to command — more at ban

First Known Use: circa 1529

Other Legal Terms

actionable, alienable, carceral, chattel, complicity, decedent, larceny, malfeasance, modus operandi

Rhymes with CONTRABAND

ampersand, baby grand, bear a hand, beforehand, behindhand, bellyband, belly-land, borderland, bottomland, cap in hand, concert grand, confirmand, countermand, Damavand, Dixieland, ductless gland, eldest hand, fairyland, fatherland, force one's hand, forestland, four-in-hand, garage band, gastric gland, Gelderland, graduand, hand in hand, hand-to-hand, hand to hand, helping hand, high command, hinterland, Holy Land, Krugerrand, lotusland, meadowland, minute hand, motherland, Nagaland, narrowband, no-man's-land, on demand, one-man band, one-night stand, operand, ordinand, out of hand, overhand, overland, parlor grand, pastureland, promised land, prostate gland, public land, radicand, reprimand, Rio Grande, rubber band, running hand, saraband, secondhand, Swaziland, tableland, taxi stand, timberland, Togoland, try one's hand, underhand, undermanned, understand, wonderland, Zululand