noun
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a person who owns or operates oil wells
-
a person who makes or sells oil
Gender
See -man.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of oilman
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at oil, man
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.
“No one was paying any attention to Venezuelan oil two weeks ago,” a longtime oilman said to me the other day, “but now everyone is.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 10, 2026
The smartest oilman I know once told me that the low-cost producer always wins.
From MarketWatch • Oct. 11, 2025
When Greg’s father told him about his grandfather, he recounted a story about a Texas oilman who tried to buy the “Allison Mystery Clock.”
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 8, 2024
He’s an oilman who invested in environmentally questionable projects; she’s a climate scientist.
From New York Times • May 30, 2024
That August, as the number of suspicious deaths continued to climb, many Osage prevailed upon Barney McBride, a wealthy fifty-five-year-old white oilman, to go to Washington, D.C., and ask federal authorities to investigate.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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.
