smuggleverb [ T usually + adv/prep ]
uk/ˈsmʌɡ.əl/us/ˈsmʌɡ.əl/C2 to take things or people to or from a place secretly and often illegally:
She was caught trying to smuggle 26 kilos of heroin out of/into the country.
They managed to smuggle a video of the captive journalists out of the prison.
More examples
- All four men deny trying to smuggle drugs.
- There are severe penalties for smuggling guns into the country.
- Four more Britons were jailed in France yesterday for trying to smuggle illegal immigrants into England.
- Together they plotted to smuggle weapons into the troubled region.
- They pleaded guilty to trying to smuggle $8 million worth of marijuana.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Trafficking & racketeering
- black market
- contraband
- counter
- gun-running
- missell
- pass
- racket
- racketeering
- run
- scalp
- scam
- scammer
- sell
- sell sb a bill of goods idiom
- the grey market
- tout
- traffic
- under the counter idiom
smuggling
noun [ U ] uk/ˈsmʌɡ.lɪŋ/us/ˈsmʌɡ.lɪŋ/
The murdered man is thought to have been involved in drug smuggling.