smuggled; smuggling
ˈsmə-g(ə-)liŋ 
1
: to import or export secretly contrary to the law and especially without paying duties imposed by law
2
: to convey or introduce surreptitiously
: to import or export something in violation of the customs laws
Examples of smuggle in a Sentence
He was arrested for smuggling drugs into the country.
They smuggled immigrants across the border.
The paintings had been smuggled out of the country before the war.
We smuggled his favorite sandwich past the nurse.
Recent Examples on the Web
In August, the US also caught another pair of Chinese nationals trying to smuggle Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 and 5090 graphics cards and H100 AI GPUs into China.
—
PC Magazine, 21 Nov. 2025
Federal prosecutors in California indicted two Americans and two Chinese citizens for allegedly trying to smuggle $4 million worth of Nvidia chips and HPE supercomputers into mainland China.
—Rohan Goswami, semafor.com, 20 Nov. 2025
The ring was allegedly successful in smuggling two separate exports, including 400 Nvidia A100 GPUs shipped to China between October 2024 and January 2025 in two shipments.
—Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 20 Nov. 2025
Yunqing Jian, a former temporary researcher at a University of Michigan lab, was ordered released and deported back to China after pleading guilty to smuggling small samples of a toxic fungus into the United States.
—Arkansas Online, 19 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for smuggle
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
PC Magazine, 21 Nov. 2025
Federal prosecutors in California indicted two Americans and two Chinese citizens for allegedly trying to smuggle $4 million worth of Nvidia chips and HPE supercomputers into mainland China.
—Rohan Goswami, semafor.com, 20 Nov. 2025
The ring was allegedly successful in smuggling two separate exports, including 400 Nvidia A100 GPUs shipped to China between October 2024 and January 2025 in two shipments.
—Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 20 Nov. 2025
Yunqing Jian, a former temporary researcher at a University of Michigan lab, was ordered released and deported back to China after pleading guilty to smuggling small samples of a toxic fungus into the United States.
—Arkansas Online, 19 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for smuggle
Cite this Entry
“Smuggle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/smuggle. Accessed 27 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Legal Definition
smuggle
verb
smug·gle
ˈsmə-gəl
smuggled; smuggling
: to import or export secretly and illegally especially to avoid paying duties or to evade enforcement of laws
smuggle drugs
convicted of smuggling weapons
: to export or import something in violation of customs laws
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share