bootleg 1 of 3

noun

ˈbüt-ˌleg How to pronounce bootleg (audio)
Definition of bootlegnext
as in alcohol
illegally produced liquor getting caught with bootleg during Prohibition could have resulted in a jail sentence

Synonyms & Similar Words

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bootleg

2 of 3

adjective

as in unauthorized
made or sold illegally During the Prohibition era, many people made their own bootleg whiskey. He was arrested for selling bootleg copies of the album.

Related Words

Dissimilar Words

bootleg

3 of 3

verb

as in to smuggle

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Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of bootleg
Noun
Whereas Marvel Tokon looks unforgettable, Wolverine's bland stab at realism looks like little more than another boring bootleg movie. — Jordan Minor, PC Magazine, 11 Aug. 2026 On the streets below, vendors are hawking bootleg merchandise as stragglers from the festivities color the sidewalks with blue-and-orange jerseys and hats. — Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 3 Aug. 2026
Verb
After the songs were bootlegged for years, Coe began selling them on his website in 2000, though without his name on them. — Victoria Edel, PEOPLE, 30 Apr. 2026 With Dallas leading 27-21 and San Francisco driving late in the fourth quarter, Joe Montana and the 49ers lined up in a split formation, with Montana bootlegging out to the right upon taking the snap. — R.j. Coyle, Dallas Morning News, 25 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for bootleg
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bootleg
  1. alcohol
  2. unauthorized
  3. smuggle
  4. booze
  5. merchandise
  6. drink
  7. fence
  8. moonshine
Noun
  • The trial is being closely watched for its implications for other fatal high-speed crashes that don't involve drugs or alcohol.
    — Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Genetics, smoking and alcohol use are risk factors, but Kingham says changing diets are the biggest cause of the global increase.
    — Caleb Hellerman, CNN Money, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of alcohol
Adjective
  • More than two dozen law enforcement officials, from crime analysts to chiefs of police, have been charged with violating their oaths of office and conducting unauthorized searches within the Flock Safety system in Georgia in the past few months.
    — Irene Wright, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2026
  • In March, for example, Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, which houses long-range B-52 bombers, went into lockdown after numerous unauthorized drones were spotted hovering over sensitive areas of the base.
    — Seth G. Jones, Foreign Affairs, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of unauthorized
Verb
  • Trump had just flown back from a NATO summit in Ankara; he’d been smuggled out of Turkey via a catering truck and a decoy plane after Iranian threats on his life.
    — Antonia Hitchens, New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2026
  • In 2025, Ukraine smuggled over 100 drones into Russia inside cargo trucks to conduct strikes that damaged or destroyed roughly one-third of Russia’s active bomber fleet and caused approximately $7 billion in damages.
    — Seth G. Jones, Foreign Affairs, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of smuggle
Noun
  • Trump demanded that Canada put American booze back on Canadian shelves.
    — Rachel Marsden, Hartford Courant, 28 Aug. 2026
  • As a result, our northern neighbor banned the sale of American booze (which is still ongoing in nearly all Canada’s provinces today).
    — Nicole Hoey, Robb Report, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of booze
Verb
  • The merchandising giant Fanatics launched a 21+ prediction platform last year.
    — Marshall Cohen, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2026
  • In fact, the team’s estimate for the film’s end budget, after merchandising costs and fees, is essentially the same as one first-season episode of a half-hour comedy on a streaming network.
    — Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of merchandise
Noun
  • Now, to the handwashing shortcomings, such as a cashier handling customer’s payment, then preparing drinks and serving plates of food to customers without washing hands (cash and payment cards tend to be germ motherships).
    — David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Sucré also produces non-alcoholic drinks from California wine grapes.
    — Sean Timberlake, Sacbee.com, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of drink
Verb
  • There's a Delfy Kids Club and, in the holiday season, complimentary activities including windsurfing, kayaking, tennis, and sports clinics during high summer that offer instruction from the master for a range of distractions from chess to fencing.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Sep. 2026
  • The walls are cedar, the roofline is gabled, and boxwood hedges fence off terraces, putting it on a shortlist of quaint homes planted atop conventional New York buildings.
    — Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of fence
Noun
  • The Carnaval de Guaranda, for instance, takes inspiration from a rowdy annual fiesta held in the Bolivar Province and is made with vodka, hops, figs, white truffle, turmeric, and a local moonshine called pájaro azul.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 July 2026
  • Barthel laments that anti-cannabis laws encouraged growers to develop highly potent strains, just as Prohibition in the 1920s put potentially lethal moonshine into circulation.
    — Martha Ross, Mercury News, 6 July 2026
Definition of moonshine

Browse Nearby Words

booting (up)
bootleg
bootlegged
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Cite this Entry

“Bootleg.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bootleg. Accessed 10 Sep. 2026.

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