tobacco
Americannoun
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tobaccos,
plural
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tobaccoes
plural
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any of several plants belonging to the genus Nicotiana, of the nightshade family, especially one of those species, as N. tabacum, whose leaves are prepared for smoking or chewing or as snuff.
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the prepared leaves, as used in cigarettes, cigars, and pipes.
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any product or products made from such leaves.
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any of various similar plants of other genera.
noun
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any of numerous solanaceous plants of the genus Nicotiana, having mildly narcotic properties, tapering hairy leaves, and tubular or funnel-shaped fragrant flowers. The species N. tabacum is cultivated as the chief source of commercial tobacco
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the leaves of certain of these plants dried and prepared for snuff, chewing, or smoking
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tobacco
1525–35; < Spanish tabaco, perhaps < Arawak: a pipe for smoking the plant, or roll of leaves smoked, or the plant
Explanation
Tobacco refers to the leaves of the tobacco plant that have been dried and processed for people to roll up and smoke. Tobacco is the main ingredient in cigarettes, and of course, chewing tobacco. Tobacco was used for fun in the Americas way before the Europeans came, but it was cultivated in France in the 1500s, and is still going strong. The word tobacco probably came from the Caribbean. The name Tobacco Road is from a novel by Erskine Caldwell, but is used to describe a section of North Carolina that produced a lot of tobacco. Tobacco is mainly used in cigarettes, which are really bad for your health.
Vocabulary lists containing tobacco
Central America and the Caribbean - Introductory
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Central America and the Caribbean - Middle School and High School
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Thomas Jefferson
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
During the early days of the tobacco lawsuits, the tobacco companies were declaring up, down, and sideways that they didn’t know any of this, that they were just doing the best they could.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
In 1614, after years of conflict with the settlers, he married off his teenage daughter Pocahontas to the English tobacco farmer John Rolfe, which brought a temporary truce.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Lung cancer continues to rank first globally for both new diagnoses and cancer deaths, with tobacco remaining the main driver of the disease.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
Macnab likened this climate case to the successful series of lawsuits against big tobacco companies in the 1990s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
Booth and Herold headed toward the tobacco barn, which stood a hundred feet or so from the main house.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
For hobbies he collects pipes, strangely blended tobaccoes, old clocks.
From Time Magazine Archive
The sentries, outposts and vedettes forbear musketry; on the contrary, exchange tobaccoes sometimes, and have a snatch of conversation.
From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 20 by Thomas Carlyle
It is not even a good mixture, for I used to try it occasionally; and if there is one man in London who knows tobaccoes it is myself.
From My Lady Nicotine A Study in Smoke by Maurice Brazil Prendergast
I have given orders to the Farmers-General to treat in preference, and at a reasonable price, for the purchase of the tobaccoes of North America.
From The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. XI by Jared Sparks
One need only put his head in at my door to realize that tobaccoes are of two kinds, the Arcadia and others.
From My Lady Nicotine A Study in Smoke by Maurice Brazil Prendergast
The shift from traditional smoking of indigenous tobaccos and other plants to commercial tobaccos has had “significant deleterious effects on tribal culture and health,” the study said.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 3, 2018
“It’s something we’ve been planning for,” said David Sylvia, a spokesman for Altria Group, the parent company of John Middleton, which manufactures the popular Black & Mild cigar brand and a variety of pipe tobaccos.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 24, 2013
In the home of fine Havana tobaccos, Hill is not honored.
From Time Magazine Archive
Their current in months' inventories are production, sufficient for whereas about 20 stocks to 23 of aging tobaccos normally are maintained to equal a three-year supply!
From Time Magazine Archive
They eagerly traded harsh burley tobaccos then popular for the mild and sweet-tasting bright tobacco they found in Durham.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
