Phrase guide

fossil fuel

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Any fuel derived from hydrocarbon deposits such as coal, petroleum, natural gas and, to some extent, peat; these fuels are non-renewable, and their burning moves carbon from underground into the atmosphere via the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

fuel consisting of the remains of organisms preserved in rocks in the earth's crust with high carbon and hydrogen content

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: fuel

Narrower terms: coal, natural gas, gas, petroleum, crude oil, crude, rock oil, fossil oil, oil

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: fossielbrandstof — fuel
  • Arabic: وَقُود أُحْفُورِيّ (waqūd ʔuḥfūriyy) — fuel
  • Azerbaijani: qazıntı yanacaq — fuel
  • Chinese Mandarin: 化石燃料 (huàshí ránliào) — fuel
  • Czech: fosilní palivo — fuel
  • Danish: fossilt brændstof — fuel
  • Danish: fossilt brændsel — fuel
  • Dutch: fossiele brandstof — fuel
  • Finnish: fossiilinen polttoaine — fuel
  • French: énergie fossile — fuel
  • French: combustible fossile — fuel
  • Georgian: წიაღისეული საწვავი (c̣iaɣiseuli sac̣vavi) — fuel
  • German: fossiler Brennstoff — fuel
  • Hindi: जीवाश्म ईंधन (jīvāśma īndhan) — fuel
  • Hungarian: fosszilis tüzelőanyag — fuel
  • Italian: combustibile fossile — fuel
  • Japanese: 化石燃料 (kaseki nenryō) — fuel
  • Korean: 화석 연료 (hwaseok yeollyo) — fuel
  • Latvian: degizraktenis — fuel
  • Latvian: fosilais kurināmais — fuel
  • Lithuanian: iškastinis kuras — fuel
  • Māori: koranehe — fuel
  • Polish: paliwo kopalne — fuel
  • Romanian: combustibil fosil — fuel
  • Russian: ископа́емое то́пливо (iskopájemoje tóplivo) — fuel
  • Spanish: combustible fósil — fuel
  • Swedish: fossilt bränsle — fuel
  • Vietnamese: nhiên liệu hóa thạch — fuel
  • Yiddish: פֿאָסילן־ברענוואַרג (fosiln-brenvarg) — fuel