Meanings
- colloquialidiomaticUsed to indicate that one is not correct or has not succeeded.
I've had a quick look, but no cigar. No, no Clinton either. ;-)
2003 November 21, Frank or is it Jackie ?, “Montoya - screaming match?”, in rec.autos.sport.f1 (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jul 20263 more examples
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!
1996 June 30, Alexander Gitlin, “Your first Dp^([sic – meaning Deep Purple]) album & when”, in alt.music.deep-purple (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jul 2026Those 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!)
1998 December 15, JD & The Bear, “How to stretch desktop wallpaper?”, in alt.windows95 (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jul 2026I 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.
2002 July 2, Moi, “XP silliness.....”, in 24hoursupport.helpdesk (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jul 2026
Origin
Cite this entry
no cigar. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/no%20cigar
“no cigar.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/no%20cigar. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “no cigar,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/no%20cigar.
Source: no cigar on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.