oil shale

American  

noun

Geology.

1. a black or dark-brown shale or siltstone rich in bitumens, from which shale oil is obtained by destructive distillation.

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oil shale British  

noun

1. a fine-grained shale containing oil, which can be extracted by heating

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oil shale Scientific  

1. A fine-grained black or dark brown shale containing hydrocarbons in the form of kerogen. When heated, oil shale yields petroleum or natural gas.

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Etymology

Origin of oil shale

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

oil shale

Experts eventually discovered an underground fire fuelled by oil shale which had been used in the building of a long-gone railway line 120 years ago.

From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2026

Producers also argue it will eventually allow them to develop oil shale and tar sands oil that are currently too costly to pursue.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 10, 2023

"That's why we are working on trying to attract more investments to Ida-Virumaa so that they can have different jobs there, not just oil shale industry," she said.

From Reuters ● Mar. 2, 2023

In Midland, Texas, the epicenter of the oil shale boom over the last decade, parking lots at companies like Chevron, Diamondback and Apache are empty aside from a scattering of pumping trucks.

From New York Times ● Apr. 21, 2020

The Corporation is designed to spur the development of commercial technologies for production of synthetic fuels, such as liquid and gaseous fuels from coal and the production of oil from oil shale.

From State of the Union Address by Carter, Jimmy