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fuel oil

American

noun

an oil used for fuel, especially one used as a substitute for coal, as crude petroleum.

fuel oil British

noun

a liquid petroleum product having a flash point above 37.8°C: used as a substitute for coal in industrial furnaces, domestic heaters, ships, and locomotives

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Thomas compared the situation to the fuel shocks of the 1970s, which helped advance the mass adoption of natural gas for heating instead of fuel oil and the doubling down of drilling for oil domestically.

From Salon • Mar. 26, 2026

We're already seeing some issues reported about fuel oil supplies.

From Barron's • Mar. 17, 2026

An official in Rome told the BBC it also had 450 tonnes of fuel oil and 250 tonnes of diesel on board.

From BBC • Mar. 17, 2026

The company has had to truck fuel oil to one of its mills, which has been without gas since Jan. 23.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 10, 2026

Near us, two sailors with axes chopped at lines, and two big life rafts plunged toward the water, which looked blade except for pools of fire from burning fuel oil.

From "The Cay" by Theodore Taylor

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023