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Synonyms

ore

1 American  
[awr, ohr] / ɔr, oʊr /

noun

  1. a metal-bearing mineral or rock, or a native metal, that can be mined at a profit.

  2. a mineral or natural product serving as a source of some nonmetallic substance, as sulfur.

öre 2 American  
[œ-ruh] / ˈœ rə /
Also øre

noun

plural

öre

  1. a bronze coin of Norway, one 100th of a krone.

  2. a zinc or bronze coin of Denmark, one 100th of a krone.

  3. a bronze coin of Sweden, one 100th of a krona.

  4. a fractional currency of the Faeroe Islands, one 100th of a krona.

Ore. 3 American  

abbreviation

  1. Oregon.

ore 1 British  
/ ɔː /

noun

  1. any naturally occurring mineral or aggregate of minerals from which economically important constituents, esp metals, can be extracted

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
öre 2 British  
/ ˈørə /

noun

  1. a Scandinavian monetary unit worth one hundredth of a Swedish krona and ( øre ) one hundredth of a Danish and Norwegian krone

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
ore Scientific  
/ ôr /

  1. A naturally occurring mineral or rock from which a valuable or useful substance, especially a metal, can be extracted at a reasonable cost.

ore Cultural  

  1. In geology, a mineral that contains a commercially useful material, such as gold or uranium.

Discover More

Ore deposits are generally mined, and the ore is processed to recover the material.

Etymology

Origin of ore1

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

Origin of öre2

First recorded in 1600–10; ultimately from Latin aureus “a gold coin of ancient Rome”; aureus ( def. )

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.

De-emphasizing China is a long process that stretches from the mine to ore processing to metal and alloy making to magnet production.

From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026

Farther away, at the Glogow smelter, two workers in protective suits, armed with long lances, open huge furnaces where the ore is melted.

From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026

He will also have a tailwind from a rebound in iron ore prices and a strong copper outlook, he adds.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

The HyIron plant, in the west of the country, turns ore into pure iron for steel making, something normally done with fossil fuels.

From BBC • Mar. 11, 2026

There were also four possible approaches for separating fissionable U-235 from natural ore.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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.