smuggles

verb

present tense third-person singular of smuggle
as in sells
to move (people or goods) from one country to another secretly and illegally They were arrested for smuggling drugs across the border.

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of smuggles In the film, which was based on a Pulitzer Prize nominated memoir, Betty escapes the clutches of her barbaric Iranian husband (played by Alfred Molina) and courageously smuggles herself and her daughter out of Iran. — Literary Hub, 29 June 2026 Produced by Mabel Cheung, Good Trip is the story of a young woman who smuggles her terminally ill father out of a hospital to address his unfulfilled wishes. — Liz Shackleton, Deadline, 19 Mar. 2026 Angela, grieving for her family and friends gone in the war, smuggles goods along the front lines to make a living. — Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 10 Mar. 2026 Hickinbottom smuggles the little kitten aboard his ship, the HMS Amethyst, and the crew obviously immediately falls in love with him and names the little tuxedo cat Simon. — Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 27 Feb. 2026 Not everyone smuggles them into print in the form of an imaginary friend. — Ian Parker, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025 According to Reforma, Rocha, a Mexican businessman who also serves as a consul of Guatemala in Mexico, is considered by FRG to be an alleged leader of a criminal organization that smuggles fuel in boats through the Usumacinta River and then in trucks to Querétaro, Mexico. — Luke Chinman, PEOPLE, 26 Nov. 2025 Having criticized the easy assumption that the international order will settle back into a natural balance, Prasad then smuggles in the idea of equilibrium again through the back door, left ajar by his firm faith in the market system. — Jamie Merchant, Washington Post, 7 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smuggles
  1. sells
  2. distributes
  3. buys
  4. supplies
Verb
  • Paul Heaney’s company itself acts as the central commissioner, putting projects into production and then sells the rights to buyers who have already stated their interest.
    — Max Goldbart, Deadline, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Reactor, which emerged from stealth in May, develops software to make world models run faster and cheaper, and sells a cloud service that manages the computing capacity.
    — Wen Shao, Fortune, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of sells
Verb
  • The farm, based in Ramona in San Diego County, distributes its eggs to restaurants, grocery stores and farmers markets across California, including the Central Coast and Bay Area.
    — Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Additionally, Southwest books complimentary hotels and ground transport for passengers with overnight delays and distributes meal vouchers for passengers waiting for three hours or more.
    — Jessica Puckett, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of distributes
Verb
  • Balakrishnan, however, cautioned against viewing the issue simply through the lens of who buys the oil, stressing the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation through international waterways.
    — Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Fitzgerald draws the whole class map into the geography—East Egg, where the old money summers, and West Egg across the bay, where Gatsby’s new fortune buys a mansion but never quite buys in.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of buys
Verb
  • The on-site Kulima Farm supplies some ingredients for the hotel’s restaurants and also offers tours, where visitors can learn about plants that are culturally significant in Hawaii.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
  • In most cases, Linde provides oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and helium to customers through merchant sale of gas (SOG) agreements, which is where Linde continually supplies gas to customers through long-term contracts.
    — Jeff Marks, CNBC, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of supplies

Browse Nearby Words

smugglers
smuggles
smuggling
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Smuggles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smuggles. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 9

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
a cup of tea and a golf ball on tee side by side
Quiz: Sounds Like... Choose the word that sounds like it fits the clue...
See All