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nicotine

noun

Simple meaning

An alkaloid poison that occurs in tobacco.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

nikuhteen

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈnɪkətin

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. An alkaloid poison that occurs in tobacco; used in medicine and as an insecticide

  2. organic chemistry

    An alkaloid (C₁₀H₁₄N₂), commonly occurring in the tobacco plant.

  3. figuratively

    Tobacco or cigarettes.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: An alkaloid poison that occurs in tobacco; used in medicine and as an insecticide

Used this way, nicotine is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Medicine/healthcare
  • Science
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use nicotine

  • “This product is completely free of nicotine and harmful chemicals.”noun

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.