smuggles

verb

present tense third-person singular of smuggle
as in sells
to move (people or goods) from one country to another secretly and illegally They were arrested for smuggling drugs across the border.

Related Words

Relevance

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 smuggles In the film, which was based on a Pulitzer Prize nominated memoir, Betty escapes the clutches of her barbaric Iranian husband (played by Alfred Molina) and courageously smuggles herself and her daughter out of Iran. — Literary Hub, 29 June 2026 Produced by Mabel Cheung, Good Trip is the story of a young woman who smuggles her terminally ill father out of a hospital to address his unfulfilled wishes. — Liz Shackleton, Deadline, 19 Mar. 2026 Angela, grieving for her family and friends gone in the war, smuggles goods along the front lines to make a living. — Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 10 Mar. 2026 Hickinbottom smuggles the little kitten aboard his ship, the HMS Amethyst, and the crew obviously immediately falls in love with him and names the little tuxedo cat Simon. — Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 27 Feb. 2026 Not everyone smuggles them into print in the form of an imaginary friend. — Ian Parker, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025 According to Reforma, Rocha, a Mexican businessman who also serves as a consul of Guatemala in Mexico, is considered by FRG to be an alleged leader of a criminal organization that smuggles fuel in boats through the Usumacinta River and then in trucks to Querétaro, Mexico. — Luke Chinman, PEOPLE, 26 Nov. 2025 Having criticized the easy assumption that the international order will settle back into a natural balance, Prasad then smuggles in the idea of equilibrium again through the back door, left ajar by his firm faith in the market system. — Jamie Merchant, Washington Post, 7 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smuggles
  1. sells
  2. distributes
  3. buys
  4. supplies
Verb
  • Coccinelle, set up by Francesca Breccia, sells independent titles on the international circuit, pairing films and their rights owners with buyers and distributors in a range of territories.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 14 Oct. 2026
  • The company runs Medicaid plans in 29 states and sells individual marketplace plans and Medicare Advantage.
    — Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of sells
Verb
  • Slowly, always slowly, and always in the company of a human server, the robot transports dishes to diners’ tables, where the human server distributes them.
    — Molly Fischer, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The government has supported the initiative alongside the International Chess Federation, known as FIDE, Chess Kenya and The Gift of Chess, a nonprofit organization that distributes chess sets.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of distributes
Verb
  • That follows two $500,000 ad buys from the business group, which has historically aligned with Republicans, praising incumbent Sens.
    — semafor.com, semafor.com, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Simpler battery packs lower costs The company buys battery cells and assembles its own packs rather than manufacturing the cells themselves.
    — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of buys
Verb
  • The light supplies the energy needed to trigger electron transfer between the two molecules.
    — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 9 Oct. 2026
  • These levels can now be measured simultaneously in many cells using a technique called single-cell RNA sequencing, which supplies a snapshot of all the different RNA molecules each cell contains.
    — Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of supplies

Browse Nearby Words

smugglers
smuggles
smuggling
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Smuggles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smuggles. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of fervid

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?
See More

Popular

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
artwork of illustrated limes with the text limes and smile with an arrow connecting the two words
Quiz: Spot the Anagram! Scramble these words to find new words with the e...
See All