renewable
Americanadjective
noun
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Relating to a natural resource, such as solar energy, water, or wood, that is never used up or that can be replaced by new growth. Resources that are dependent on regrowth can sometimes be depleted beyond the point of renewability, as when the deforestation of land leads to desertification or when a commercially valuable species is harvested to extinction. Pollution can also make a renewable resource such as water unusable in a particular location.
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Compare nonrenewable
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of renewable
Explanation
Anything renewable can be replaced or has an endless supply. Renewable sources of energy don't run out. Since re means "again," things that are renewable are always fresh and new: the supply can't be used up. This word often applies to energy. Fossil fuels like oil are not renewable resources; we will run out of oil someday. Energy sources like solar and wind power are renewable, because there's always going to be sunlight and wind. Anything renewable is going to last.
Vocabulary lists containing renewable
Power Suffix: -able
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Power Prefix: re-
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Natural Resources and the Environment - Introductory
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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.
The regulation adds about 29 cents to the price of a gallon of diesel and acts as a subsidy for renewable fuel producers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Scotland has been identified as a key location for building hyperscale AI data centres because of the high potential for renewable energy, principally from wind.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
A new federal rule finalized in March 2026 increased the amount of renewable fuel that refiners and importers must incorporate into the nation’s transportation-fuel supply.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
Scientists have already acknowledged that this scenario has become implausible based on recent trends in renewable energy, climate policies and actual greenhouse gas emissions, and planned to retire RCP8.5 from the next international climate report.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
The United States and the rest of the world must turn to renewable energy, also called green energy.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
