SMUGGLING Synonyms: 80 Similar and Opposite Words

smuggling 1 of 2

noun

as in poaching

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smuggling

2 of 2

verb

present participle of smuggle

as in selling

to move (people or goods) from one country to another secretly and illegally They were arrested for smuggling drugs across the border.

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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 smuggling

Noun

Two people have been arrested and charged with wildlife trafficking in what federal officials said was a yearslong smuggling operation. — Jeanine Santucci, USA Today, 20 Aug. 2026 Five months after his return to the board, prosecutors allege the smuggling operation was in full swing. — Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 20 Aug. 2026 Georgina Bribiesca Chavez, 66, of Tijuana, Mexico, was arrested earlier this month on wildlife trafficking charges after allegedly participating in a yearslong reptile smuggling scheme. — Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 19 Aug. 2026 As part of his plea deals, Kindelan Hernandez agreed to cooperate with authorities by providing information about the Cuban-American crime network and its migrant-smuggling operations in South Florida and Mexico. — Jay Weaver, Miami Herald, 18 Aug. 2026 Alex Wong/Getty Images The Department of Justice has asked an appeals court to reinstate the criminal human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. — Laura Romero, ABC News, 18 Aug. 2026 Homeland Security had been aware of the 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee that was the basis for the human smuggling charges for more than two years before Abrego Garcia was deported. — Travis Loller, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2026 Goode dives into the underworld of exotic animal smuggling, a billion-dollar criminal enterprise driven by obsession over rare species. — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026 Investigators later determined the pilot had previously been involved in prior drug smuggling assignments. — Colson Thayer, PEOPLE, 7 Aug. 2026

Verb

Attackers can capitalize on the predilection by smuggling harmful instructions into emails or webpages the assistant is instructed to summarize. — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 20 Aug. 2026 Prosecutors said Santana was paid thousands in bribes for smuggling contraband into the facility between May 2024 and June 2025. — Jesse Zanger, CBS News, 19 Aug. 2026 It's also given rise to smuggling schemes to bring AI hardware into China, prompting international investigations and the arrests of many high-profile employees at companies such as Super Micro and Nvidia. — Jon Martindale, PC Magazine, 17 Aug. 2026 Jester called his mother after she was caught smuggling the fentanyl. — Matthew Ormseth, Los Angeles Times, 14 Aug. 2026 Rum has always been good at fantasy, conjuring sunshine in a bad bar, smuggling a little heat in the cold, and making the most sensible drinker briefly vulnerable to the pull of a paper umbrella. — Lela London, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026 Four people, including a man serving time for murder, have been arrested and accused of smuggling drugs and other contraband into the Pulaski County jail, a news release from the county sheriff's office says. — Arkansas Online, 8 Aug. 2026 The Civil Guard said the operation with Ecuador’s National Police, which was overseen by Europol, targeted a ring that was financed by investors in Dubai and was smuggling drugs from South America into Spain in shipping containers. — ABC News, 5 Aug. 2026 On July 20, the Department of Justice announced that three Mexican men pleaded guilty to smuggling hundreds of people south from Canada into New York, then transferring them to the Midwest. — Trevor Hughes, USA Today, 29 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for smuggling

Noun

Engineers blame the exodus on aggressive poaching from cash-flush rivals, frustration at falling behind on coding benchmarks, and engineers chasing pre-IPO equity before rivals go public.

— Beatrice Nolan, Fortune, 13 Aug. 2026
Kenya has previously recorded incidents of elephants being poisoned as a result of poaching and human-wildlife conflict.

— CBS News, CBS News, 29 July 2026

Definition of poaching

Verb

The complaint claims the companies' products have been improperly collecting, sharing and selling personal data, like cellphone and vehicle location data.

— Dennis Valera, CBS News, 21 Aug. 2026
Off Campus followed, based on Elle Kennedy’s best-selling novel The Deal, before Disney announced The Shards, following a group of teens against the backdrop of 1980s Los Angeles.

— Connor Sturges, Condé Nast Traveler, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of selling

Verb

Since 2021, nearly 50 North Carolina hospitals and the state’s health department have begun distributing the wristbands, to give mothers and care providers a visual reminder of the life-threatening health risks after birth.

— Andrew Jones, CNN Money, 17 Aug. 2026
Alibaba has bolstered that cycle by distributing Qwen through its cloud platform to enterprise customers in markets including Southeast Asia and Africa, giving it a reach that many rivals lack.

— Saritha Rai, Fortune, 15 Aug. 2026

Definition of distributing

Noun

Arnold has been charged with eight felony counts stemming from a February incident — four counts of kidnapping and four counts of armed robbery.

— Tobias Bass, New York Times, 15 Aug. 2026
The 23-year-old became a free agent in June, when the Detroit Lions released him a few days after the kidnapping, armed robbery and conspiracy charges were levied.

— Andrew Destin, Baltimore Sun, 14 Aug. 2026

Definition of kidnapping

Verb

Chavez and an alleged trafficking partner, Salvador Pelayo of Chula Vista, California, have both been arrested and charged with violating the federal Lacey Act against trafficking.

— Jeanine Santucci, USA Today, 20 Aug. 2026
And how police uncovered a large-scale drug-trafficking ring at Penn State.

— Elizabeth Robinson, NBC news, 19 Aug. 2026

Definition of trafficking

Noun

Historical context and origins Before the rise of the Mongol empire, trade across Eurasia along the Silk Road network was frequently disrupted by warfare, political fragmentation, heavy taxation, and banditry.

— Ethan Teekah, Encyclopedia Britannica, 13 Aug. 2026
Robin quickly and viscerally dispatches his foe, before going up against a larger swath of enemies who are targeting his former partner-in-banditry Little John (played by Bill Skarsgård).

— David Sims, The Atlantic, 17 June 2026

Definition of banditry

Verb

The players supplying most of the public product this month are often the ones with the smallest contracts and the least protection against what losing their opportunity will mean.

— Jason Lloyd, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2026
Bruce Power has been producing cobalt-60 since 1986, supplying isotopes used to sterilize approximately 30 per cent of the world’s single-use medical devices.

— Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of supplying

Browse Nearby Words

smuggles

smuggling

smugness

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Style

“Smuggling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smuggling. Accessed 23 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of smuggling

noun

verb

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