fuel
Americannoun
-
fuels
plural
-
combustible matter used to maintain fire, as coal, wood, oil, or gas, in order to create heat or power.
-
something that gives nourishment; food.
-
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)
-
fuels,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fueled,
past participle, past
-
fuelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
fueling,
present participle
-
fuelling
present participle (especially British)
verb (used without object)
-
fuels,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fueled,
past participle, past
-
fuelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
fueling,
present participle
-
fuelling
present participle (especially British)
noun
-
any substance burned as a source of heat or power, such as coal or petrol
-
-
the material, containing a fissile substance, such as uranium-235, that produces energy in a nuclear reactor
-
a substance that releases energy in a fusion reactor
-
-
something that nourishes or builds up emotion, action, etc
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
fuelernoun
-
fuellernoun
-
defuelverb (used with object)
-
nonfueladjective
-
unfueledadjective
-
well-fueledadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fuelsimple
-
fuelssimple
-
have fueledperfect
-
have fuelledperfect
-
has fueledperfect
-
has fuelledperfect
-
am fuelingprogressive
-
am fuellingprogressive
-
are fuelingprogressive
-
are fuellingprogressive
-
is fuelingprogressive
-
is fuellingprogressive
-
have been fuelingperfect progressive
-
have been fuellingperfect progressive
-
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
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Chemical Reactions - Introductory
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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.
See Examples For:
The bank expects price pressures to reflect higher global energy costs feeding through to services sensitive to fuel prices, as well as firmer food inflation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Some businesses in Jersey have expressed concern about the impact of rising global fuel prices.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
"SolarStratos takes another step towards its ultimate goal: reaching the stratosphere aboard a crewed electric and solar-powered aircraft, without using a single drop of fossil fuel."
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
Higher fuel prices and a severe El Nino could add to domestic inflation pressures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
And unit 4 was hidden beneath a sleek gray-and-white frame, built to unload fuel from its storage pools.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
The use of fossil fuels to power the centre prompted criticism from environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth Cymru.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Near the hurricane's eyewall, the release of latent heat fuels powerful convection, causing warm, moist air to surge upward and form towering cumulonimbus clouds.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
"There's a lot of evidence about Shell knowing as early as in the 1960s" that fossil fuels contributed to global warming, said Madeleine Lynch, a campaigner on the "Odette case."
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
“Although most consumers don’t purchase diesel directly, it fuels the movement of goods and services across the economy,” they wrote.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026
Unlike fossil fuels, wind, solar, and hydroelectric systems generate electricity with no associated air pollution emissions.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
He fueled the “Talarico is missing” narrative from the stage and through his tip line.
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2026
On the American side, he argued, the same inflated projections fueled warnings that China’s overtaking was inevitable, fueling a Washington consensus built partly on what he calls a statistical mirage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Experts attribute the extremely warm ocean temperatures that fueled Rachel, which peaked as a Category 3 hurricane, in part to El Niño.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
Whereas elsewhere in emerging markets, the race to build out AI infrastructure has fueled stock-market gains as well as worries about concentration risk, Brazil may provide equity investors a way to diversify internationally.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
The rarity of Seabiscuit’s public appearances fueled rumors that the horse was unsound, rumors that were reinforced by the horse’s choppy gait.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Asian stocks plunged Thursday as tech firms suffered another painful rout after forecast-topping US inflation data fuelled expectations the Federal Reserve will have to ramp interest rates higher.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
"Valor Mortis" by the Polish studio One More Level shows Napoleon's 19th century army fuelled by a mysterious substance that makes them stronger before turning them into zombies and half-animal creatures.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
Surging demand and dwindling supply have fuelled an illicit market for eligible recruits.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
But for Andoni Iraola and Liverpool, this will be an opportunity to truly kickstart their own campaign, fuelled by a backstory like no other.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
They told a tale of progress fuelled by human brain power.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
A California e-commerce platform is fueling the rise of live shopping in the United States, taking on giants such as TikTok and tackling concerns that the app is draining people’s bank accounts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
A recent $200-million gift is fueling a university-wide push into artificial intelligence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Rising energy and fertiliser costs are hitting smallholder farmers and driving up prices of agricultural commodities, fueling fears of a global food crisis, the head of the UN agriculture development fund told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
A sharp selloff in shares of companies closely tied to the AI trade is driving investors toward safety, sparking a rotation into defensive stocks and fueling a surprise rally in hard-hit Treasury notes and bonds.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
That constant anger at it had been like an energy of its own, fueling him.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
The pledge comes as smoke from Indonesian wildfires blankets parts of Southeast Asia, closing schools and fuelling a surge in respiratory complaints across the region.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
Four people died on Indonesia's Java island fighting the blazes that have been sending toxic smoke across southeast Asia, closing schools and fuelling a surge of respiratory complaints in the region, authorities said Friday.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
The price of oil has jumped to $105 a barrel amid signs the conflict in the Middle East will not be resolved quickly, fuelling fears that inflation could accelerate.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
That demand is also fuelling a rapid build-out of data centres - the computing hubs where data is stored and AI models are trained and run.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
This matter of fuelling steamers is a serious one at such distances from the coal-mines; it costs the Peninsular Company some eight hundred thousand pounds a year.
From Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
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