coal

American  

[kohl] / koʊl /

noun

1. a black or dark-brown combustible mineral substance consisting of carbonized vegetable matter, used as a fuel.

2. a piece of glowing, charred, or burned wood or other combustible substance.

3. charcoal.

---

verb (used with object)

1. to burn to coal or charcoal.

2. to provide with coal.

verb (used without object)

1. to take in coal for fuel.

idioms

1. heap coals of fire on someone's head, to repay evil with good in order to make one's enemy repent.

2. rake / haul / drag / call / take over the coals, to reprimand; scold.

   They were raked over the coals for turning out slipshod work.

coal British  

/ kəʊl /

noun

1. 1. a combustible compact black or dark-brown carbonaceous rock formed from compaction of layers of partially decomposed vegetation: a fuel and a source of coke, coal gas, and coal tar See also anthracite bituminous coal lignite peat 1

   2. ( as modifier )

      coal cellar

      coal merchant

      coal mine

      coal dust

2. one or more lumps of coal

3. short for charcoal

4. something supplied where it is already plentiful

5. to reprimand someone

---

verb

1. to take in, provide with, or turn into coal

coal Scientific  

/ kōl /

1. A dark-brown to black solid substance formed from the compaction and hardening of fossilized plant parts in the presence of water and in the absence of air. Carbonaceous material accounts for more than 50 percent of coal's weight and more than 70 percent of its volume. Coal is widely used as a fuel, and its combustion products are used as raw material for a variety of products including cement, asphalt, wallboard and plastics.

2. See more at anthracite bituminous coal lignite

---

coal More Idioms  

1. see carry coals to Newcastle; rake over the coals.

---

Other Word Forms

• coalless
  adjective
• coaly
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of coal

before 900; Middle English cole, Old English col; cognate with Dutch kool, German Kohle, Old Norse kol

Explanation

Coal is a mineral, a black rock that can be extracted from the earth and burned for fuel. Most of the electricity that's produced in the world is powered by the burning of coal. Coal may seem like an old-fashioned fuel, making you think of steam locomotives that ran on coal, or coal fires heating homes in the nineteenth century. Some people still burn coal in stoves today, although most coal is burned on a much larger scale, generating electricity for entire towns and cities. You can also use the noun coal to mean a glowing ember in your fireplace or backyard grill. In Old English, it was col, from a Germanic root.

Example Sentences

The gas explosion happened at the Liushenyu Coal Mine, run by the Tongzhou Group, in Shanxi Province.

From BBC • May 23, 2026

Coal emits around double the amount of carbon dioxide as burning natural gas.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 17, 2026

Coal provides 80 percent of South Africa's power, according to the OECD, and the country ranks among the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters.

From Barron's • Apr. 22, 2026

This essay is adapted from the author's book "Song for a Hard-Hit People: A Memoir of Antiracist Solidarity from a Coal Miner's Daughter," published by Haymarket Books.

From Salon • Apr. 19, 2026

Coal took out his sketch pad and drew anyway.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste