- plural of custom.
customs
Britishnoun
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duty on imports or exports
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the government department responsible for the collection of these duties
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the part of a port, airport, frontier station, etc, where baggage and freight are examined for dutiable goods and contraband
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the procedure for examining baggage and freight, paying duty, etc
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( as modifier )
customs officer
Explanation
Customs are taxes, or duties, that you sometimes have to pay when you import goods from another country. When you return home from a trip to another country, you have to clear customs by talking to a customs officer and declaring everything you bought or got as a gift while you were traveling. If you're bringing in a lot of stuff, you may have to pay customs — the duty on imports. Customs are a source of income for a country, and they also provide control over what’s coming in.
Vocabulary lists containing customs
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Prosecutors have issued 33 arrest warrants against customs officers and employees of the National Environment Agency over their alleged involvement in the scheme.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
The decrease "reflects a decline in sales volume as we raised prices and lowered online advertising spending" in anticipation of the removal of the customs duty exemption, the company said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
The burial patterns showed that boys and girls often followed the same cemetery customs as adult men and women.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 27, 2026
By then, Christianity had been spreading among Naga communities for decades, bringing changes extending beyond religious belief into customs, rituals and everyday life.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
There was such a thing as native customs, he said.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
