fuel
Americannoun
-
combustible matter used to maintain fire, as coal, wood, oil, or gas, in order to create heat or power.
-
something that gives nourishment; food.
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an energy source for engines, power plants, or reactors.
Kerosene is used as jet engine fuel.
-
something that sustains or encourages; stimulant.
Our discussion provided him with fuel for debate.
- Synonyms:
- stimulus, impetus, sustenance, ammunition
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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any substance burned as a source of heat or power, such as coal or petrol
-
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the material, containing a fissile substance, such as uranium-235, that produces energy in a nuclear reactor
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a substance that releases energy in a fusion reactor
-
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something that nourishes or builds up emotion, action, etc
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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fuelernoun
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fuellernoun
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defuelverb (used with object)
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nonfueladjective
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unfueledadjective
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well-fueledadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fuelsimple
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fuelssimple
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have fueledperfect
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have fuelledperfect
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has fueledperfect
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has fuelledperfect
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am fuelingprogressive
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am fuellingprogressive
-
are fuelingprogressive
-
are fuellingprogressive
-
is fuelingprogressive
-
is fuellingprogressive
-
have been fuelingperfect progressive
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have been fuellingperfect progressive
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has been fuelingperfect progressive
-
has been fuellingperfect progressive
Past
-
fueledsimple
-
fuelledsimple
-
had fueledperfect
-
had fuelledperfect
-
was fuelingprogressive
-
was fuellingprogressive
-
were fuelingprogressive
-
were fuellingprogressive
-
had been fuelingperfect progressive
-
had been fuellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fuel
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English feuel, fuel(le), from Old French feuaile, from Vulgar Latin focālia (unrecorded), neuter plural of focālis (unrecorded) “of the hearth, fuel,” from Latin focus “hearth” ( see focus) + -ālis -al 1
Explanation
What do you and your car have in common? You both run on fuel. Whether its gasoline or nutritious food, fuel produces energy to get up and go. Fuel can also act as a verb that has several different meanings, all related to stimulating something or providing energy. Your brother might fuel up on whole-wheat bread with peanut butter a few hours before a big game. A teacher assigns readings to fuel meaningful class discussion. Memories of your mom's delicious dinners might fuel your desire to learn to cook.
Vocabulary lists containing fuel
Word Generation Science - Energy
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Engineering - Introductory
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Chemical Reactions - Introductory
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
"We know that climate change is adding more fuel to the fire," Hazen said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Uranium enrichment can make fuel for both nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
The team examined fuel conditions before the fires and estimated the outcomes for roughly 26,400 giant sequoias in 19 groves affected by the Castle and KNP Complex wildfires.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
An Instagram post tagged with the location "Who Knows" only added fuel to the speculation.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
It didn’t help that another fire had broken out at the unit 4 reactor, and attempts to reach the fuel pools by helicopter that morning were once again stymied by radiation.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
As veterinarians seek answers, mate Shadow fuels questions about whether he’s “seeing” another female.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
From building wind turbines to reinforcing power grids for rising demand from electric cars, transitioning from fossil fuels to greener economies will require a massive increase in metal extraction.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
And under a climate change–driven heat dome that fuels more storms, the forests are all the more susceptible to inopportune lightning strikes.
From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2026
Environmental groups Greenpeace and Uplift argued that ministers had not considered the full climate impact from burning fossil fuels which the fields would produce.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
Thus love fuels war, turning it into an inferno whose heat and smoke rise to the heavens.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
In France, hot weather and dried out vegetation have fueled fires that by Monday had spread across more than 285,000 acres—an area that has increased 18% since the weekend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Within a few short weeks, an ongoing outbreak of Cyclospora, a foodborne parasite that can contaminate raw fruits and vegetables — and lead to several unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms — has fueled a nationwide panic.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026
Now, they are wading back in with a focus on big growth areas like multifamily housing and industrial real estate, which is being fueled by a boom in big data-center projects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
The weather has begun to dry out the landscape and in some parts of the state fueled wildfires.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
The Spanish sack of Tawantinsuyu calamitously expanded on this tradition of plunder, which has greatly accelerated in modern times, fueled by the desperate poverty of Peru’s Indian population.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
It comes two days after Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as education minister over repeated failures in the conduct of competitive exams that have fuelled anger among millions of young Indians.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed on Thursday "stringent punishment" for those involved in exam fraud that has fuelled student anger, in his first direct comments tied to major protests challenging his government.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Both Urbanova and Ingbretson are fuelled by the love of competing and train all year - lifting weights, jogging, doing other cardio and refining their axe skills.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
A spokesperson for the Italian Civil Protection Agency told AFP the situation in Sicily was "serious" and that the fires were "being fuelled by very high temperatures and very dry soil".
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
His personal identification with romantic heroes such as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet seemed to have fuelled not just musical inspiration but his crazed, desperate infatuation with a Shakespearean actress, Harriet Smithson.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
As summer heat settles over the Southwest, it changes the circulation in the atmosphere enough to pull up monsoonal moisture from the Pacific and Gulf of California, fueling warm rain and thunderstorms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
Efforts to prove their masculinity are so over-the-top that they inevitably read more as anxious than tough, revealing the deep well of insecurity fueling the movement.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
US inflation has already been above the Fed's two percent target for around five years, fueling concerns.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
What trends are fueling this demographic shift, and where can investors tap into the long-term growth potential of an aging world?
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
The confluence of race and sex was a powerful force in dismantling Reconstruction after the Civil War, sustaining Jim Crow laws for a century and fueling divisive racial politics throughout the twentieth century.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent, and changes in atmospheric circulation are fuelling more frequent and more intense heatwaves on the continent.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
Muñoz also points to other factors fuelling this particular surge: the Covid pandemic delaying routine jabs, a lack of regular measles-rubella mass vaccination campaigns since 2020, overcrowding and Eid holiday travel.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
El Nino will quickly develop into a strong event between July and September, fuelling the likelihood of extreme weather, the United Nations' weather and climate agency warned Friday.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
Faye and Sonko came to power together in 2024 on the promise of sweeping reforms, but their alliance has recently fractured, fuelling political uncertainty in the country.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
The schoolroom was perfumed with the smoke of peat, for it was the landward pupils' week of the fuelling, and they were accustomed to bring each his own peat under his arm every morning.
From Gilian The Dreamer His Fancy, His Love and Adventure by Munro, Neil
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
