as in smugglers
a person who imports or exports goods secretly and illegally
a bootlegger of counterfeit electronics
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Recent Examples of bootleggers
The Tunnels story is that Chinese immigrants built a network of tunnels under the city because they were forced to live underground; the tunnels were then used by gangsters and bootleggers, including Al Capone.
—
JSTOR Daily, 20 Oct. 2025
Prohibition also took hold in Indiana during the decade, though bootleggers did pop up across the state.
—Joe Mutascio, IndyStar, 17 Oct. 2025
Groucho Marx stars as the new president of Huxley College, who attempts to sign on two pro players to help beat rival Darwin University but ends up getting a pair of bootleggers instead.
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 19 Sep. 2025
Kentucky's vast wilderness and mountainous regions served as hideaways for bootleggers, Rein said, while the government used paid informants to sniff them out.
—Maggie Menderski, Louisville Courier Journal, 16 Sep. 2025
Counterfeit merchandise has long been a problem for musicians, with suppliers and artists now contending with new school online retailers and old school bootleggers hawking wares outside of concerts.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 9 Sep. 2025
Sharon Stone co-stars as a mob boss with a few screws loose — her gang of bootleggers toggles with Hutch, threatening to ruin everyone’s R&R.
—Brent Lang, Variety, 15 Aug. 2025
JSTOR Daily, 20 Oct. 2025
Prohibition also took hold in Indiana during the decade, though bootleggers did pop up across the state.
—Joe Mutascio, IndyStar, 17 Oct. 2025
Groucho Marx stars as the new president of Huxley College, who attempts to sign on two pro players to help beat rival Darwin University but ends up getting a pair of bootleggers instead.
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 19 Sep. 2025
Kentucky's vast wilderness and mountainous regions served as hideaways for bootleggers, Rein said, while the government used paid informants to sniff them out.
—Maggie Menderski, Louisville Courier Journal, 16 Sep. 2025
Counterfeit merchandise has long been a problem for musicians, with suppliers and artists now contending with new school online retailers and old school bootleggers hawking wares outside of concerts.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 9 Sep. 2025
Sharon Stone co-stars as a mob boss with a few screws loose — her gang of bootleggers toggles with Hutch, threatening to ruin everyone’s R&R.
—Brent Lang, Variety, 15 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bootleggers
smugglers
Noun
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The next administration could once again allow smugglers to exploit loopholes that resulted in hundreds of thousands of children being pushed across the border.—
Dan Gooding,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Oct. 2025
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Teaming with a colorful cast of characters, their investigation sends them on an expedition that takes in Scottish politics, AI, cults, secret agents, smugglers, and vegan record shops.—
Jake Kanter,
Deadline,
16 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Bootleggers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bootleggers. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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