shale
Americannoun
-
shales
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of shale
1740–50; origin uncertain; compare obsolete shale to split (said of stone), to shell, derivative of shale shell, husk, Old English scealu shell, husk; see scale 2
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Vocabulary lists containing shale
Earth Science - Middle School
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Earth Science - High School
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Geology - Middle School
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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.
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Before the conflict, Saudi Arabia was the world’s No. 1 crude-oil exporter, with the U.S. nipping at its heels after the yearslong boost in production following the shale revolution.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
Traditionally, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has used production quotas to move the oil price, with U.S. shale producers adding supply once prices went above roughly $65 a barrel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Over the past two decades, the division has played a central role in the responsible production and use of energy, driven by technological advances from the shale revolution to AI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
De la Espriella’s ideological kinsman, Argentine President Javier Milei, is pushing for more oil output, focusing on his country’s massive Vaca Muerta shale deposit.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026
In the middle of a quiet block on 141st Street, inside a brownstone made of deep red shale, the Vanderbeeker family gathered in the living room for a family meeting.
From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser
Comparisons with pristane and phytane found in oil shales supported that explanation.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
National Fuel Gas owns roughly 1.2 million acres in the Appalachian Basin, with substantial mineral ownership overlying the Marcellus and Utica shales.
From Barron's ● Jan. 23, 2026
"The oil shales are running out of Tier 1 inventory," said Bryan Sheffield, founder of energy investors Formentera Partners and Scott Sheffield's son.
From Reuters ● Oct. 11, 2023
Such balls, called siliceous nodules or “Rokycany Balls,” are weathered out of the shales of the Šárka Formation.
From Science Magazine ● Sep. 27, 2023
Thallus dichotomous, proliferous, the early divisions linear-oblong, the margins ascending and remotely sinuate, the later divisions linear-palmatifid, coarsely nerved; cells large, hexagonal; involucre ciliate-fringed or lacerate; calyptra smooth, included.—Wet limestones and shales.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray
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.
