a metal-bearing mineral or rock, or a native metal, that can be mined at a profit.
a mineral or natural product serving as a source of some nonmetallic substance, as sulfur.
a bronze coin of Norway, one 100th of a krone.
a zinc or bronze coin of Denmark, one 100th of a krone.
a bronze coin of Sweden, one 100th of a krona.
a fractional currency of the Faeroe Islands, one 100th of a krona.
Ore deposits are generally mined, and the ore is processed to recover the material.
before 900; conflation of Middle English ore, Old English ōra ore, unreduced metal; and Middle English or(e) ore, metal, Old English ār brass, cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German ēr, Old Norse eir, Gothic aiz; compare Latin aes bronze, coin, money
First recorded in 1600–10; ultimately from Latin aureus “a gold coin of ancient Rome”; see aureus ( def. )
Ore is a rock that contains minerals like iron, gold, or lead. The seven dwarfs in the movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" worked mining ore. Another meaning of ore is a Swedish unit of money. The krona is made up of 100 ore. In this use, ore is usually spelled with an umlaut over the o — öre. In English, ore is most commonly used to mean a material from which valuable metals or gems can be extracted. In Old English, ora means unwrought metal and ar means bronze. Both root words are thought to have influenced this sense of ore.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Metal mining is energy-intensive, and conventional estimates for its carbon footprint attribute most of its emissions to heavy equipment on-site, as well as diesel transport required to haul ore away.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
It's a far cry from basin depths in Silesia -- a historic coal mining region in southern Poland where he still extracts the ore.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Zhang graduated from the prestigious Peking University in Beijing with a Spanish degree in 2010, and a year later travelled to Mexico to work for a Chinese-owned company that mined iron ore.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Two more ships left for China loaded with Iranian iron ore.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Slag looks like pieces of porous rock but actually is the cinders left over when iron ore is melted down to make steel.
From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins
The anxious countryman had got quit of his candle and received his sixty-three öre, and the commercial gentlemen had set to work upon the roast hare.
From Norse Tales and Sketches by Kielland, Alexander Lange
"I will give you two öre for your thoughts, if they are worth it," her father said at last.
From Gerda in Sweden by McDonald, Etta Austin Blaisdell
If it was really worth an öre and a half, it is incredible that Gustavus in the strait in which he then was should have ultimately given it for an öre.
From The Swedish Revolution Under Gustavus Vasa by Watson, Paul Barron
It is noticeable also that those stamped 1523, which were presumably issued for an öre, contain a trifle more in value than those stamped 1522, and called an öre and a half.
From The Swedish Revolution Under Gustavus Vasa by Watson, Paul Barron
"It costs five öre to go up in the lift, and three öre to come down," she replied.
From Gerda in Sweden by McDonald, Etta Austin Blaisdell
When Ed’s health began to fade in 2023, his son, Bryan, arranged with a Keizer, Ore., store called Bricks & Minifigs—the local franchise of a nationwide chain of Lego resellers—to sell the collection on consignment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
The driver was a 21-year-old man from Yuba City, and the two passengers were a 17-year-old boy from San José and a 27-year-old man from Salem, Ore. All three died in the crash.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
She works for a consulting firm in Eugene, Ore., that helps nonprofits raise funding.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026
He had initially opened Pegasus Books in Bend, Ore., in 1980, with plans to become an author.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
I used to boost the P. and P., Designed to run from sea to sea, From Portland, Ore., to Portland, Me.,
From Impertinent Poems by Cooke, Edmund Vance
The former provides access to rare earth ores, and the latter can process ores into usable products.
From Barron's ● May 13, 2026
Africa's exports to China are dominated by minerals and raw materials, such as crude oil and metallic ores.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
The company estimates that 70% of global copper reserves are contained in such ores, frequently in concentrations that aren’t worth the expense of grinding into powders and hauling—often overseas—for smelting and refining.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026
However, they are also lower grade than many such ores mined elsewhere across the globe, Goodenough notes.
From Barron's ● Jan. 7, 2026
When she wasn’t reading, she was drawing ores or hobbits.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
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.
