Contraband
adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Any goods which are illicit or illegal to possess. uncountable, usually
- 2 goods whose importation or exportation or possession is prohibited by law wordnet
- 3 Goods which are prohibited from being traded, smuggled goods. uncountable, usually
- 4 A black slave during the American Civil War who had escaped to, or been captured by, Union forces. US, countable, historical, usually
"While some Yanks treated contrabands with a degree of equity or benevolence, the more typical response was indifference, contempt, or cruelty."
- 1 To import illegally; to smuggle. obsolete
"there are also searched for concealed Slaves, and goods contrabanded"
- 2 To declare prohibited; to forbid. obsolete
"The law severely contrabands / Our taking business off men's hands."
- 1 Prohibited from being traded.
"… when the seizure is made in connection with a violation involving a contraband article covered by section 1 (b) (1) of the said Act; …"
- 1 distributed or sold illicitly wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"The customs agent searched Tom for contraband."
Etymology
From Spanish contrabanda (modern spelling contrabando), from Italian contrabando (modern spelling contrabbando), from contra (“against”) + bando (“ban”), and reinforced by French contrebande.
Related phrases
More for "contraband"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.