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kerosene

noun

Simple meaning

A thin, often colorless or blue or straw-colored petroleum-based fuel, heavier than gasoline/petrol or naphtha but lighter than diesel.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kehruhseen

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkɛɹəsin

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 thin, often colorless or blue or straw-colored petroleum-based fuel, heavier than gasoline/petrol or naphtha but lighter than diesel, used primarily as jet fuel but also for heating and lighting in some remote or impoverished areas.

  2. A flammable hydrocarbon oil used as fuel in lamps and heaters

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A thin, often colorless or blue or straw-colored petroleum-based fuel, heavier than gasoline/petrol or naphtha but lighter than diesel, used primarily as jet fuel but also for heating and lighting in some remote or impoverished areas.

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

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • kerosine , rarer, so it draws attention

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

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Flammable

kerosene lamp

Thin

kerosene lantern

Other combinations

kerosene oilkerosene stovekerosene emulsionsmall keroseneuse kerosenelike kerosene

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • kerosene heaternounCompound term

    Heater that burns oil (as kerosine) for heating or cooking.

  • kerosene lampnounCompound term

    A lamp that burns oil (as kerosine) for light.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: thin or often colorless or blue

kerosineRare

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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.