Synonyms of smuggling

smuggling 1 of 2

noun

as in poaching

Related Words

• poaching
• piracy
• kidnapping
• banditry
• rustling
• looting
• plundering
• abduction
• hijacking
• shoplifting
• pilfering
• pilferage
• black marketeering
• spoliation
• pillage
• rapine
• despoliation
• embezzlement
• carjacking
• stealing
• graft
• despoilment
• shanghaiing
• robbery
• burglary
• petit larceny
• embezzling
• misappropriation
• filching
• larceny
• petty larceny
• peculation
• thievery
• theft
• misapplication
• purloining
• housebreaking

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.

Related Words

• selling
• distributing
• trafficking
• bootlegging
• supplying
• buying
• black-marketing
• exchanging
• bartering
• fencing
• bargaining
• transacting
• reselling
• purchasing
• negotiating
• swapping
• merchandising
• auctioning
• taking
• peddling
• marketing
• retailing
• wholesaling
• vending
• horse-trading
• rebuying
• underselling
• dealing
• trading
• monopolizing
• cornering
• fair-trading
• engrossing
• picking up
• speculating
• investing
• day-trading

Dissimilar Words

• boycotting
• blacking
• blackballing

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of smuggling

Noun

In addition, the probe is looking at people tied to the company, like Alice Huang, and at whether China recruited her to spy and assist the smuggling of AI chips into the country. — Elizabeth Robinson, NBC news, 10 Nov. 2026

No other deputies have been implicated in the drug-smuggling scheme, but the case brought scrutiny on Meiser’s unit and its interaction with inmates. — Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times, 6 Nov. 2026

The network charged between $1,500 and $40,000 for smuggling services and sometimes chartered private planes to move groups, according to the Justice Department. — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 30 Oct. 2026

Homeland Security Investigations, the agency conducting the at-home visits, is one of the enforcement arms of ICE and typically focuses on criminal cross border investigations like child exploitation, drug smuggling and money laundering. — Madeleine May, CBS News, 21 Oct. 2026

The officer said those killed were RSF members and people involved in fuel smuggling. — CNN Money, 20 Oct. 2026

Many analysts say Nigeria’s fuel subsidy burdened public finances and encouraged adverse behaviors like fuel smuggling. — Alexander Onukwue, semafor.com, 19 Oct. 2026

Determined to save both his school and his future, Soulan resorts to increasingly desperate measures, including dangerous cross-border fuel smuggling, as his natural decency comes into conflict with his modest ambitions. — Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 15 Oct. 2026

Not a pushover but a practical-minded realist, the chef takes the punches, striking up a booze-smuggling deal with the Americans to keep the orphans living in his restaurant safe. — Beatrice Loayza, Variety, 13 Oct. 2026

Verb

The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into Megaspeed, the Singaporean company suspected of smuggling Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips into China, according to a source familiar with the matter. — Steve Kopack, NBC news, 9 Nov. 2026

Kseniia Petrov was accused of smuggling frog embryos into the United States. — Laura Romero, ABC News, 4 Nov. 2026

Money collected from smuggling customers moved through shell companies to conceal its source and recipients. — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 30 Oct. 2026

Military leaders on both sides have also plundered Sudan’s vast gold reserves, smuggling much of their takings out of the country. — Mat Nashed, Christian Science Monitor, 28 Oct. 2026

When two brothers tried smuggling 635 turtles valued at more than $1 million, one was sentenced to a year in prison and a $15,000 fine, and the other to two concurrent year-and-a-day sentences with a $10,000 fine. — Stuart Miller, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2026

Then Sean moves away and grows up to become a spy who, after wrapping up a mission involving smuggling a nuclear warhead for reasons unknown, decides to pay an impromptu visit to his tweenage buddies. — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 9 Oct. 2026

With the goal of smuggling themselves to Turkey, the women are eventually found out for keeping a secret or two from the conspirators abetting their plan. — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 4 Sep. 2026

Nia then persuades Tefa to join her in smuggling cell phones into the regional prison. — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 28 Aug. 2026