Word.ws English Dictionary

contraband

/ˈkɒn.tɹəˌbænd/US/ˈkɑn.tɹəˌbænd/

contraband noun: any goods which are illicit or illegal to possess.

Noun

contraband (usually uncountable, plural contrabands)

  1. (usually) Any goods which are illicit or illegal to possess.
  2. (usually) Goods which are prohibited from being traded, smuggled goods.
  3. (US, countable, historical, usually) A black slave during the American Civil War who had escaped to, or been captured by, Union forces.
    • While some Yanks treated contrabands with a degree of equity or benevolence, the more typical response was indifference, contempt, or cruelty.1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford, published 2003, page 497

Adjective

contraband (comparative more contraband, superlative most contraband)

  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; …1940, The Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America: Having ... – Division of the Federal Register, the National Archives – Page 2191
    • The exclusion of mandatory payment of moieties for seizures of contraband controlled substances is accomplished through Section 17 of the bill, …1953, United States, United States. President, United States. Congress – United States Code Congressional and Administrative News – Page 2039

Verb

contraband (third-person singular simple present contrabands, present participle contrabanding, simple past and past participle contrabanded)

  1. (obsolete) To import illegally; to smuggle.
    • there are also searched for concealed Slaves, and goods contrabanded1615, George Sandys, “The Second Booke”, in The Relation of a Iourney Begun An: Dom: 1610. […], London: […] [Richard Field] for W. Barrett, →OCLC, page 87
  2. (obsolete) To declare prohibited; to forbid.
    • The law severely contrabands / Our taking business off men's hands.1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished...

contraband meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

contraband in Tamil

கடத்தல் பொருள், கள்ளக் கடத்தற் பொருள், கள்ளக் கடத்தல், கள்ளச்சரக்கு, கள்ளவாணிகச் சரக்கு, பொருள்

contraband in Urdu

ممنوعہ, ناجائز, قاچاق

contraband in Bengali

চোরাই মাল, নিষিদ্ধ পণ্য

contraband in Malayalam

വ്യാജച്ചരക്ക്, നിയമവിരുദ്ധമായി കൊണ്ടുവരുന്ന ചരക്ക്, വിലക്കപ്പെട്ട
More languagesFewer languages
contraband in Kannada
ಕಳ್ಳಸಾಗಣೆ, ನಿಷಿದ್ಧವ್ಯಾಪಾರ, ಕಳ್ಳಮಾಲು, ಕಳ್ಳಸಾಗಣೆಯ ಸರಕು
contraband in Pashto
قاچاق qāčā́q
contraband in Arabic
تَهْرِيب tahrīb
contraband in Persian
قاچاق qâčâq

Forms of contraband

Noun
pluralcontrabands
Adjective
comparativemore contraband
superlativemost contraband
Verb
third-person singular presentcontrabands
present participlecontrabanding
past participlecontrabanded
pastcontrabanded

Plural of contraband: contrabands

Origin of contraband

From Spanish contrabanda (modern spelling contrabando), from Italian contrabando (modern spelling contrabbando), from contra (“against”) + bando (“ban”), and reinforced by French contrebande.

Words formed from contraband

Questions about contraband

What does contraband mean?
Contraband means any goods which are illicit or illegal to possess.
What is contraband in Tamil?
Contraband in Tamil is கடத்தல் பொருள், கள்ளக் கடத்தற் பொருள், கள்ளக் கடத்தல். See Contraband meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is contraband?
Contraband can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce contraband?
Contraband is pronounced /ˈkɒn.tɹəˌbænd/ (UK).
What is the plural of contraband?
The plural of contraband is contrabands.

Words near contraband in the dictionary

  1. contra-octaves
  2. contra-trader
  3. contra-traders
  4. contra-trading
  5. contrabalanced
  6. contraband
  7. contraband of war
  8. contrabandage
  9. contrabanded
  10. contrabander
  11. contrabanders

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: contraband (page history and authors); contraband (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); contraband (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Contraband (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); contraband (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); contraband (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); قاچاق (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “contraband.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/contraband. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.