Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

no cigar

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.57 in modern English

Syllables: no -ci-gar
IPA

10

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

phrase

Used to indicate that one is not correct or has not succeeded.

Colloquial

Example Sentences

"Again - sure! A perfect excuse to hair the heroes of the current decade, and thus conform to everyone else and their current trends! How convenient. Well, no cigar. UK, 70s, was such a prolific and interesting time and place that I would argue, after having spent a good 6 years on studying specifically that area of music that there's no way in HELL I would call it "95% shit, 5% true gems" - more like the other way around!"
"Those features ARE there, but the software that Microsoft offered (a very nice subset of MS Plus!) isn't! I looked, and looked, and looked, but no cigar. (typical!)"
"I thought for sure your idea would work since I didn't have the "Restore Previous...logon" button checked. But...no cigar. It's still doing it."
"I've had a quick look, but no cigar. No, no Clinton either. ;-)"

Etymology

See close, but no cigar.

Usage

Colloquial

Questions

What does no cigar mean?: Used to indicate that one is not correct or has not succeeded.
Where does no cigar come from?: See close, but no cigar.

How to pronounce no cigar

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “no cigar”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “no cigar”.
Repeat and practice — Say “no cigar” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.