smuggle
Americanverb (used with object)
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smuggles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
smuggled,
past participle, past
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smuggling
present participle
-
to import or export (goods) secretly, in violation of the law, especially without payment of legal duty.
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to bring, take, put, etc., surreptitiously.
She smuggled the gun into the jail inside a cake.
verb (used without object)
-
smuggles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
smuggled,
past participle, past
-
smuggling
present participle
verb
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to import or export (prohibited or dutiable goods) secretly
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(tr; often foll by into or out of) to bring or take secretly, as against the law or rules
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to conceal; hide
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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smugglesimple
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smugglessimple
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have smuggledperfect
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has smuggledperfect
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am smugglingprogressive
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are smugglingprogressive
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is smugglingprogressive
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have been smugglingperfect progressive
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has been smugglingperfect progressive
Past
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smuggledsimple
-
had smuggledperfect
-
was smugglingprogressive
-
were smugglingprogressive
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had been smugglingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of smuggle
1680–90; < Low German smuggeln; cognate with German schmuggeln
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.
Vocabulary lists containing smuggle
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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The Circuit
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Enrique's Journey
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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.
See Examples For:
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
Independent benchmarks confirm that Pangram outperforms every other detector tested and is robust against “humanizers,” or software designed to smuggle A.I. text past detectors.
From Slate ● Apr. 17, 2026
Super Micro got hit hard last week after one of its board members was arrested by federal authorities under charges of helping to smuggle Nvidia chips to China.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026
Two men appeared in a Nairobi court on Tuesday accused of attempting to smuggle thousands of ants to China, a lucrative trade exposed last year in the east African country.
From Barron's ● Mar. 17, 2026
The teachers would smuggle lectures over to them and they would respond with questions and comments.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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
Neither simplistically optimistic nor preachy, “Hoppers” smuggles timely ideas inside a rodent body.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 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
El Tirindaro is a subspecies of coyote known as a patero, because he smuggles people into the United States by pushing them across the river on inner tubes while paddling like a pato, or duck.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
The President was smuggled in a catering container, so serious is the threat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
In his last days in prison he tried to keep up the spirits of his fellow inmates and managed to have smuggled out an audio message to his mother.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
According to the real Asa, their parents had smuggled her out of the village at a young age but weren’t able to take Yuru with them.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
In a statement, the US alleged at least 60kg of gold, valued at millions of US dollars, were smuggled from eastern DR Congo to Gasabo Gold in early 2026.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
Reilly must have smuggled the pirate gimmicks out of the garage the afternoon before.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Globalization suddenly gave money and means for people to move; smuggling networks rose up; smartphones provided instant feedback on the best routes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
"We categorically refused. By doing so, you are effectively supporting that smuggling chain," Stojiljkovic told AFP.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Besides the main storyline and a dull, time-padding smuggling operation to uncover, there’s little to do for the rest of the Broken Lizard team: Paul Soter, Eric Stolhanske and Steve Emme.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Under the departing President Gustavo Petro, a former leftist guerrilla, the government embarked on simultaneous peace negotiations with about a dozen narco-trafficking groups to urge them to disarm and abandon drug smuggling.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
“The profit in illegal tobacco is very high. The smuggling is a national scandal, Marchese, truly a national disgrace.”
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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.
