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fuel

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A substance that can be consumed to produce energy.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

fyoouhl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfjuəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A substance that can be consumed to produce energy

    “More fuel is needed during the winter months.”

  2. Substance consumed to provide energy through combustion, or through chemical or nuclear reaction.

  3. Substance that provides nourishment for a living organism; food.

  4. figuratively

    Something that stimulates, encourages or maintains an action.

verb

  1. Provide with a combustible substance that provides energy

  2. transitive

    To exacerbate, to cause to grow or become greater.

  3. Provide with fuel

  4. Take in fuel, as of a ship

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A substance that can be consumed to produce energy

Used this way, fuel is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Heard in a sentence
“More fuel is needed during the winter months.”
Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use fuel

  • “More fuel is needed during the winter months.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Substance / provide

fuel oilfuel injection

Other combinations

fossil fuelfuel cellfuel economyfuel tankfuel pumpliquid fuel

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • fueledadjectiveInflected form

    Heated, driven, or produced by burning fuel.

  • fuelingnounInflected form

    The activity of supplying or taking on fuel.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • fuel cellnounCompound term

    Cell that produces electricity by oxidation of fuel (hydrogen and oxygen or zinc and air).

  • fuel consumption ratenounCompound term

    The ratio of the number of miles traveled to the number of gallons of gasoline burned.

  • fuel filternounCompound term

    A filter in the fuel line that screens out dirt and rust particles from the fuel.

  • fuel gaugenounCompound term

    An indicator of the amount of fuel remaining in a vehicle.

  • fuel indicatornounCompound term

    An indicator of the amount of fuel remaining in a vehicle.

  • fuel injectionnounCompound term

    Mechanical system to inject atomized fuel directly into the cylinders of an internal-combustion engine.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.