plural smugglers
: one who smuggles something
The traffic in drugs—especially cocaine—to Florida by sea and air from South America has been generating wealth to rival that of the tourist trade and attracting a cadre of ingenious and ruthless smugglers from around the world.—
Jeremiah Tax
Jeremiah TaxIn nearby Nogales smugglers tunnel 6 ft. under the border and funnel people through.—Terry McCarthy
Terry McCarthyOfficials in Paraguay raided a wildlife smuggling operation in its capital city, Asunción, on March 25, recovering two critically endangered Brazilian parrots, which Paraguayan smugglers had hoped to sell in West Germany for $40,000.—Focus
FocusExamples of smuggler in a Sentence
during Prohibition, smugglers of alcohol did a brisk business
Recent Examples on the Web
Migrants hoping for safety and stability are routinely caught in webs of existential uncertainty—they are transferred from smugglers to traffickers, militias to police, and humanitarian organizations to governments.
—Foreign Affairs, 22 Apr. 2025
That edge is somewhat novel in Star Wars’s universe of smugglers, which typically feels bifurcated between scoundrels with a heart of gold and petty criminals who are rarely more than their base nature.
—Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 22 Apr. 2025
This will reduce the need for East African countries to seek help from China and the U.S. to combat pirates, smugglers and drug traffickers.
—Josh Hammer, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Apr. 2025
After the events of the first season, the HBO series’ dual protagonists—Joel (Pedro Pascal), a grizzled smuggler, and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), his impetuous surrogate daughter—decided to settle in Jackson, Wyoming, joining perhaps the only remaining human outpost governed by hope rather than by fear.
—Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2025
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Foreign Affairs, 22 Apr. 2025
That edge is somewhat novel in Star Wars’s universe of smugglers, which typically feels bifurcated between scoundrels with a heart of gold and petty criminals who are rarely more than their base nature.
—Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 22 Apr. 2025
This will reduce the need for East African countries to seek help from China and the U.S. to combat pirates, smugglers and drug traffickers.
—Josh Hammer, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Apr. 2025
After the events of the first season, the HBO series’ dual protagonists—Joel (Pedro Pascal), a grizzled smuggler, and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), his impetuous surrogate daughter—decided to settle in Jackson, Wyoming, joining perhaps the only remaining human outpost governed by hope rather than by fear.
—Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for smuggler
Cite this Entry
“Smuggler.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/smuggler. Accessed 2 May. 2025.
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