Smuggler Meaning
/ˈsmʌɡ.lə(ɹ)/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA person who moves goods or people illegally across borders.
nounOne who smuggles things.
Sentence Examples
The smuggler hid the diamonds inside a false-bottom suitcase.
The drug smuggler was arrested at the airport.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The border police finally captured the ____ who was carrying illegal drugs in his truck.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree English smuggle Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzijos Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English smuggler From smuggle + -er.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Every time the little gate creaks--I'm in the shed with the tanks at the end of the garden--I wonder from which of my pasts the person is arriving, seeking me out even here: maybe it is only the past of yesterday and of this same suburb, the squat Arab garbage collector who in October begins his rounds for tips, house by house, with a Happy New Year card, because he says that his colleagues keep all the December tips for themselves and he never gets a penny; but it could also be the more distant pasts pursuing old Ruedi, finding the little gate in the Impasse: smugglers from Valais, mercenaries from Katanga, croupiers from the Veradero casino and the days of Fulgencio Batista."
— 1979, Italo Calvino, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler:
"Cabbage Moh, a Cantonese smuggler and drug dealer from triad-controlled Shumchun on the Hong Kong border, sees an opportunity to the north and opens dens supplying dope and philopon ferried up the Soochow Creek and distributed out of Fah Wah Village, adjacent to the new sin strip."
— 2018, Paul French, City of Devils, Picador, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 118:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The border police finally captured the ____ who was carrying illegal drugs in his truck.