noun

petroleum

puh-TROH-lee-uhm

noun

A naturally occurring liquid found underground, made mostly of hydrocarbons, that is refined into fuels like petrol and diesel.

"The country's economy depends heavily on petroleum exports."

"Crude petroleum is pumped from deep wells before being refined."

How to Use Petroleum

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishCrude oil — the raw natural substance that gets refined into petrol, diesel, and other products.

Common mistake

Petroleum is the raw crude oil; petrol is one of the refined products made from it.

Easily confused with

petrol →

Common pairings

crude petroleum petroleum industry petroleum jelly

petroleums plural, petrolea plural

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Can you complete this real example?

The country's economy depends heavily on _____ exports.

From Medieval Latin petroleum, from Greek petra ("rock") plus elaion ("oil") — "rock oil."

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