narco

1 of 2

noun

nar·​co ˈnär-(ˌ)kō 

plural narcos

1

US slang : one who traffics or deals drugs illegally

One of the ways for big narcos to launder drug money was to acquire land.

—Maureen Orth

… the US government has for the past fifteen years been waging all-out war on the Colombian narcos, with little to show for it.

—Michael Massing

also : narcotic drugs

—usually used before another noun

narco traffic/traffickers

narco smuggling

see also narco- sense 2

2

US slang : a person investigating narcotics violations : narc

Students also have agitated against university acquiescence in the presence on the campus of "narcos"—police agents seeking to make arrests for violations of narcotics laws …

—Earl C. Gottschalk, Jr.

narco-

2 of 2

combining form

1

: deep sleep

narcolepsy

2

[narcotic] : associated with, relating to, or engaged in the sale of illegal narcotics

narco-terrorism

narco-corruption

narco-criminals

narco-dollars [=dollars gained through the sale of illegal narcotics]

Examples of narco in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

By moving from rhetoric to large-scale military action, Maduro is signaling that Venezuela will fight drug trafficking on its own terms while resisting Washington's narrative of Caracas as a narco-state. —Amir Daftari, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Sep. 2025

The Pentagon equates Venezuelan President Maduro's government to a narco-trafficking cartel. —Phil Stewart, USA Today, 5 Sep. 2025

Prosecutors have indicted Maduro on conspiracy charges, accusing him of turning Venezuela into a narco-state, and the State Department has placed a $50 million bounty on his capture. —Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 2 Sep. 2025

The music video is a surreal AI marvel — reminiscent of a Quentin Tarantino fever dream — blurring the lines between the past and future while showcasing the swagger of narco-cinema. —Tere Aguilera, Billboard, 29 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

(sense 1) borrowed from American Spanish, probably short for narcotraficante "drug trafficker," from narco- narco- + traficante "dealer, trafficker"; (sense 2) from narc- (as in narcotics agent, narcotics officer) + -o entry 1

Combining form

combining form from Greek nárkē "numbness, lack of sensation"; (sense 2) in part after American Spanish narco- (as in narcodependencia "drug dependency," narcotráfico "drug trafficking") — more at narcosis

First Known Use

Noun

1954, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing narco

• narco-terrorism

Rhymes for narco

• arco