fossil fuel

[fos-uhl fyoo-uhl]

noun

Energy.

1. any combustible organic material, as oil, coal, or natural gas, derived from the remains of former life.

fossil fuel

noun

1. any naturally occurring carbon or hydrocarbon fuel, such as coal, petroleum, peat, and natural gas, formed by the decomposition of prehistoric organisms

fossil fuel

1. A hydrocarbon fuel, such as petroleum, coal, or natural gas, derived from the accumulated remains of ancient plants and animals and used as fuel. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases generated by burning fossil fuels are considered to be one of the principal causes of global warming.

Example Sentences

Rapid urbanisation, industrial growth and land-use changes drove up fossil fuel use, vehicle emissions and biomass burning, sending aerosols into the atmosphere and dimming the Sun's rays.

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Experts say the relatively low cost of fossil fuels, like diesel, meant it was unlikely the shipping lines of the 1920s would make back the investment required to install them.

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The United States and other major producing countries are planning to extract even more coal, oil, and gas, despite a 2023 UN climate agreement to "transition away" from fossil fuels.

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The current mania for supercomputers, AI, superintelligence and the like is driven by the availability of cheap energy, mostly afforded by fossil fuels.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The companies spent billions of dollars over the past two decades building plants that use huge amounts of water to transform fossil fuels into gasoline, jet fuel and other refined products.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal