smuggle

American  

[smuhg-uhl] / ˈsmʌg əl /

verb (used with object)

• smuggles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• smuggled,
  past participle,  past
• smuggling
  present participle

1. to import or export (goods) secretly, in violation of the law, especially without payment of legal duty.

2. to bring, take, put, etc., surreptitiously.

   She smuggled the gun into the jail inside a cake.

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verb (used without object)

• smuggles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• smuggled,
  past participle,  past
• smuggling
  present participle

1. to import, export, or convey goods surreptitiously or in violation of the law.

smuggle British  

/ ˈsmʌɡəl /

verb

1. to import or export (prohibited or dutiable goods) secretly

2. (tr; often foll by into or out of) to bring or take secretly, as against the law or rules

3. to conceal; hide

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• smuggler
  noun
• smuggling
  noun
• antismuggling
  adjective
• unsmuggled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• smuggling
  present
• smuggled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• smuggle
  simple
• smuggles
  simple
• have smuggled
  perfect
• has smuggled
  perfect
• am smuggling
  progressive
• are smuggling
  progressive
• is smuggling
  progressive
• have been smuggling
  perfect progressive
• has been smuggling
  perfect progressive

Past

• smuggled
  simple
• had smuggled
  perfect
• was smuggling
  progressive
• were smuggling
  progressive
• had been smuggling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will smuggle
  simple
• will have smuggled
  perfect
• will be smuggling
  progressive
• will have been smuggling
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of smuggle

1680–90; < Low German smuggeln; cognate with German schmuggeln

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Explanation

If you import or export something without paying customs duties, you smuggle it. All kinds of things have been smuggled over the years: art, alcohol, drugs, animals, even tea! The verb smuggle has expanded to generally mean to bring something in or out in secret, especially if doing so breaks a rule or a law. Kids may smuggle candy into a movie theater so they don't have to pay the high prices at the concession stand. You may smuggle Christmas presents into the house so your kids don't see them. Illegal immigrants may be smuggled into the country for a fee, but if caught they can be deported.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

smuggle smuggles smuggled smuggling

For a decade, the Revolutionary Guard used small fishing boats, known as dhows, to smuggle small arms, drone components and missiles out of Iran to the Houthis.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

Do not smuggle in assumptions from the past.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026

He adds that he believes groups linked to the regime are now trying to smuggle more fuel to take advantage of rising prices caused by the war.

From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026

For years, authorities say, Ghomi used an intermediary in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to smuggle U.S. tech into his home country of Iran, where he is a dual-citizen.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026

We hoped that they could smuggle us out of Poland.

From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson

But Walsh smuggles in an entirely different claim beneath these factual details: that Parks was effectively a political actress participating in a manufactured hoax.

From Salon ● May 20, 2026

Treating occurrences as things that exist smuggles confusion into our language and concepts.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2025

Graham Norton once noted that "she uses humour like a Trojan horse, in which she smuggles in all sorts of difficult issues."

From BBC ● May 26, 2024

Even more heartbreaking is the story of Su, a Citizen doctor who smuggles supplies to treat Sahas.

From New York Times ● Nov. 1, 2022

“He smuggles in bread sometimes and sells it—for a price. I’ll buy us a little something to eat. You’ve saved us, Yanek!”

From "Prisoner B-3087" by Alan Gratz

Six years ago, 26 rare reptiles - 10 of them dead - smuggled inside parcels of toys and sweets from Mexico, were found by customs officials at Cologne Bonn Airport.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

Kang noted the influence of South Korean dramas smuggled in on USB drives, finding them "so refreshing and more credible than North Korea state propaganda".

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

As a young man, by his account, he smuggled diamonds, oversaw coconut plantations, dynamited fish, captained schooners and hunted killer cannibals in the New Guinea jungle.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

The Wall Street Journal’s Dasl Yoon and a former North Korean soldier examine a smartphone that was smuggled out of the world’s most reclusive nation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Not long after this I received a note from Oliver Tambo that was smuggled in to me by one of my lawyers.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

It is unclear why the vessel was in the area or whether it was part of a human smuggling operation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

Mahmoud Ali Youssouf also stressed the urgent need to "address the root causes of irregular migration, combat migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons, and promote safe, orderly and regular migration".

From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026

Gold-rich areas such as those in River Nile state lie along porous borders in terrain historically associated with cross-border smuggling routes, with artisanally mined gold potentially feeding into those channels.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

Georgia’s Department of Corrections has arrested 18 staff and 92 civilians this year for smuggling contraband into prisons.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

The treasury clerk, Joshua Dawson, did note “fine doings in the River, easy means of smuggling, & most likely, little precaution taken to prevent it.”

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy

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Related Words

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