petroleum

American  

[puh-troh-lee-uhm] / pəˈtroʊ li əm /

noun

1. an oily, thick, flammable, usually dark-colored liquid that is a form of bitumen or a mixture of various hydrocarbons, occurring naturally in various parts of the world and commonly obtained by drilling: used in a natural or refined state as fuel, or separated by distillation into gasoline, naphtha, benzene, kerosene, paraffin, etc.

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petroleum British  

/ pəˈtrəʊlɪəm /

noun

1. a dark-coloured thick flammable crude oil occurring in sedimentary rocks around the Persian Gulf, in parts of North and South America, and below the North Sea, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. Fractional distillation separates the crude oil into petrol, paraffin, diesel oil, lubricating oil, etc. Fuel oil, paraffin wax, asphalt, and carbon black are extracted from the residue

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petroleum Scientific  

/ pə-trō′lē-əm /

1. A thick, flammable, yellow-to-black mixture of gaseous, liquid, and solid hydrocarbons that occurs naturally beneath the Earth's surface. It can be separated into fractions including natural gas, gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, paraffin wax, asphalt, and fuel and lubricating oils, and is used as raw material for a wide variety of derivative products. It is believed to originate from the accumulated remains of fossil plants and animals, especially in shallow marine environments.

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Other Word Forms

• petroleous adjective

Etymology

Origin of petroleum

1520–30; < Medieval Latin: literally, rock oil, equivalent to Latin petr ( a ) rock (< Greek pétra ) + oleum oil

Compare meaning

How does petroleum compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• petrolatum vs. petroleum

Example Sentences

“It will take a long time to shake out the impact regarding oil supplies and hence, petroleum pricing,” Ritterbusch and Associates says in a note.

From The Wall Street Journal

He has been explicit about his ambitions for American petroleum companies to scale up their operations in the country.

From BBC

Chevron, the oil giant founded and until recently headquartered in California, is the only foreign petroleum company still operating in Venezuela and its largest foreign investor.

From Los Angeles Times

Chevron, the international petroleum conglomerate with a massive refinery in El Segundo and headquartered, until recently, in San Ramon, is the only foreign oil company that has continued operating there through decades of revolution.

From Los Angeles Times

More effective are the measures against facilities that handle Russian petroleum products.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• crude oil
• fossil fuel
• fuel
• gas
• gasoline
• kerosene
• natural gas
• petrol