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kerosene

American  
[ker-uh-seen, kar-, ker-uh-seen, kar-] / ˈkɛr əˌsin, ˈkær-, ˌkɛr əˈsin, ˌkær- /
Or kerosine

noun

  1. a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons obtained by distilling petroleum, bituminous shale, or the like, and widely used as a fuel, cleaning solvent, etc.

adjective

  1. using or fueled by kerosene.

    a kerosene lamp.
kerosene British  
/ ˈkɛrəˌsiːn /

noun

  1. Also called: paraffin.  a liquid mixture consisting mainly of alkane hydrocarbons with boiling points in the range 150°–300°C, used as an aircraft fuel, in domestic heaters, and as a solvent

  2. the general name for paraffin as a fuel for jet aircraft

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
kerosene Scientific  
/ kĕr′ə-sēn′ /

  1. A thin, light-colored oil that is a mixture of hydrocarbons derived from petroleum. The hydrocarbons in kerosene contain between 11 and 12 carbon atoms. Kerosene is used as a fuel in lamps, home heaters and furnaces, and jet engines.

Usage

The spelling kerosine is now the preferred form in technical and industrial usage

Etymology

Origin of kerosene

1852; irregular < Greek kērós wax + -ene; formerly trademark

Explanation

Kerosene is an oil that's commonly used for fuel in stoves, lamps, and heaters. If you go camping, you might heat up some chili over a portable kerosene stove before telling ghost stories. Kerosene is an efficient fuel, which makes it portable — you don't need to burn that much kerosene to generate heat or cook food. It's common, therefore, in camping stoves and lamps, and it's a low-cost method of backup heat during power outages as well. Also known as paraffin, kerosene has other uses, including powering jet engines, the outboard motors of small boats, and in parts of Asia, motorcycles as well.

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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.

"Kerosene is being made available through retail outlets and PDS channels," Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said last week.

From BBC • Mar. 19, 2026

Kerosene tanks were buried underneath the parking areas.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 27, 2025

"Kerosene or gas space heaters and gas stoves also produce substantial amounts of nitrogen dioxide," The American Lung Association states.

From Salon • Jan. 21, 2023

"Kerosene price revision was a must for many years," Sri Lanka's minister for power and energy, Kanchana Wijesekera, said in a tweet last month.

From Reuters • Sep. 7, 2022

Kerosene lamps—another amazing thing—hissed as they hung from hooks over the porch.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

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.