Phrase guide

oil shale

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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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A sedimentary rock containing kerogen from which petroleum-like shale oil can be produced by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

shale from which oil can be obtained by heating

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: shale

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

15 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: битумино́зни ши́сти (bituminózni šísti) — shale from which hydrocarbons can be produced
  • Chinese Mandarin: 油頁岩 /油页岩 (yóuyèyán) — shale from which hydrocarbons can be produced
  • Danish: olieskifer — shale from which hydrocarbons can be produced
  • Dutch: olieschalie — shale from which hydrocarbons can be produced
  • Estonian: põlevkivi — shale from which hydrocarbons can be produced
  • Finnish: öljyliuske — shale from which hydrocarbons can be produced
  • German: Ölschiefer — shale from which hydrocarbons can be produced
  • Icelandic: olíuleirsteinn — shale from which hydrocarbons can be produced
  • Italian: scisto bituminoso — shale from which hydrocarbons can be produced
  • Norwegian Bokmål: oljeskifer — shale from which hydrocarbons can be produced
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: oljeskifer — shale from which hydrocarbons can be produced
  • Portuguese: xisto betuminoso — shale from which hydrocarbons can be produced
  • Russian: горю́чий сла́нец (gorjúčij slánec) — shale from which hydrocarbons can be produced
  • Swedish: oljeskiffer — shale from which hydrocarbons can be produced
  • Thai: หินน้ํามัน (hǐn-nám-man) — shale from which hydrocarbons can be produced