tobacco
Americannoun
-
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:
The “other” category includes tobacco, personal-care products and services, as well as legal services.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026
The City Council unanimously approved a measure to prohibit the sale and distribution of nitrous oxide by cannabis and tobacco retailers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Sharply defined restrictions on biological weapons, ozone-destroying chemicals, leaded gasoline and tobacco marketing have also succeeded.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
New legislation in the UK, external, taking affect in the new year, will permanently ban the legal sale of tobacco to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009 to create a "smoke-free" generation.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
He stayed there briefly, sleeping on the floor outside Madison’s room, before returning to Montpelier to spend the rest of his life in the tobacco fields.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
For hobbies he collects pipes, strangely blended tobaccoes, old clocks.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
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
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
Nevertheless, there was one black week when we all smoked the ordinary tobaccoes.
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
The publication of a fake testimonial is no greater perversion of the truth than to imply that the heat treatment of tobaccos is an exclusive process with any single manufacturer.
From Time Magazine Archive
With the conspicuous exception of oils, shoes, drugs, foods, chain stores and tobaccos, industrial earnings practically disappeared, amounted to less than one-thirtieth of 1931 earnings.
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
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