cigarette

American  

[sig-uh-ret, sig-uh-ret] / ˌsɪg əˈrɛt, ˈsɪg əˌrɛt /

Or cigaret

noun

• cigarettes
  plural

1. a cylindrical roll of finely cut tobacco cured for smoking, considerably smaller than most cigars and usually wrapped in thin white paper.

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cigarette British  

/ ˌsɪɡəˈrɛt /

noun

1. Shortened forms: cig.   ciggy.  a short tightly rolled cylinder of tobacco, wrapped in thin paper and often having a filter tip, for smoking

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• anticigarette
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cigarettes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cigarette

1820–30; < French, equivalent to cigare cigar + -ette -ette

Explanation

A small tube of paper that's filled with tobacco and lit with a match is a cigarette. Because cigarettes take a terrible toll on smokers' health, the number of people who smoke them has declined recently. Most cigarettes come in packages, each cigarette a perfect slim cylinder topped with a filter. When a cigarette is smoked all the way to this filter, it becomes a "butt." The main chemical in cigarettes is called nicotine, and it's extremely addictive — other additives in cigarettes can cause various cancers and lung diseases. Because of these dangers, cigarettes are regulated and highly taxed. The word itself comes from the French, meaning "little cigar."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cigarette cigarettes

Putting out his cigarette before starting the evening service, he sighed: "I think we'll be without water for at least another two months."

From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026

I said, “Why don’t you stick to the cigarette over your head, and I’ll handle this?”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

When I asked what had brought her to the Trump Superstore, aside from the 50 percent discount, she lit a cigarette.

From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026

Most are believed to be accidental, with sparks potentially coming from construction work, faulty electrical equipment, cigarette butts and barbecues.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

Styx threw down the stub of his candy cigarette and ground it out like it was real.

From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon

From being one of the city's big three employers - along with Boots and Players cigarettes - with 8,000 staff, it may have finished its days being little more than a logo.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

He urged people not to light disposable barbecues or campfires in green spaces, avoid dropping lit cigarettes and take litter home.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

FARGO, N.D.—Oak Reile was delivering a pallet of washer fluid, cigarettes and candy to a local convenience store in 2020 when he slipped and fell, breaking two vertebrae and paralyzing him from the armpits down.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

The inspiring tale of a forgotten hero: In 1990, a single dad got fed up with the billboards for cigarettes targeting Chicago’s Black neighborhoods.

From Slate ● Jul. 31, 2026

They also kept away from the bars, from all the fingers poking through, the faces the men made at them, and the burning cigarettes flicked at them.

From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke

Related Words

• smoke