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.

A West Virginia company that hauls coal got hit with regulations as if it were extracting the stuff.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026

At the time, geneticists were extracting DNA from the bones of the extinct animals and pinpointing genetic differences between them and their living elephant cousins.

From New York Times • Mar. 6, 2024

“Before the crisis, they were extracting air from the lungs of society,” said Sami Zoughaib, an economist at Beirut-based think tank The Policy Initiative.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 22, 2023

Brazil's National Mining Agency estimated that year that wildcat gold miners were extracting some 30 tonnes of gold annually from the Tapajós watershed alone, using the toxic heavy metal mercury to separate gold from sediment.

From Reuters • Aug. 20, 2021

Mesopotamians were extracting tons of petroleum by heating rock asphalt.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond