coalface

American

[kohl-fays] / ˈkoʊlˌfeɪs /

noun

the area in a coal mine where coal is actively being mined.

coalface British

/ ˈkəʊlˌfeɪs /

noun

the exposed seam of coal in a mine

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

coalfaces

plural

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:

coalface

At the end of the season, O'Neill cast doubt on his ability to go back to the coalface one more time, but his words were never convincing.

From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026

That’s where the drill meets the coalface, so to speak.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2026

Since the late 1980s, he has been at the coalface of psychedelic counterculture.

From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2024

But he saw his future with the union, and to lead it, he had to respect the rules requiring time near the coalface.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 6, 2021

After a lunch of milled corn and salted cabbage, the exhausted children, their faces and clothes covered in coal dust, headed back to the coalface, carrying candles in the ink-black mine.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023