crude

1 of 2

adjective

cruder; crudest
1
: marked by the primitive, gross, or elemental or by uncultivated simplicity or vulgarity
a crude stereotype
crude tools
crude jokes
2
: existing in a natural state and unaltered by cooking or processing
crude oil
crude ore
3
: rough or inexpert in plan or execution
a crude shelter
4
: lacking a covering, glossing, or concealing element : obvious
crude facts
5
: tabulated without being broken down into classes
the crude death rate
6
archaic : unripe, immature
crudely adverb
crudeness noun

crude

2 of 2

noun

: a substance in its natural unprocessed state
especially : unrefined petroleum
Choose the Right Synonym for crude

rude, rough, crude, raw mean lacking in social refinement.

rude implies ignorance of or indifference to good form; it may suggest intentional discourtesy.

rude behavior

rough is likely to stress lack of polish and gentleness.

rough manners

crude may apply to thought or behavior limited to the gross, the obvious, or the primitive.

a crude joke

raw suggests being untested, inexperienced, or unfinished.

turning raw youths into polished performers

Examples of crude in a Sentence

Adjective They built a crude shelter out of branches. a crude summary of the country's history She first described the procedure in crude terms, and then went into more detail.
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
In other trading early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil shed 10 cents to $82.06 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Elaine Kurtenbach, Quartz, 19 Mar. 2024 Job openings peaked in 2022 along with record gasoline and crude oil prices but prices since have moderated. Paul Davidson, USA TODAY, 18 Mar. 2024 Both incidents occurred more than two years after as many as 131,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from an Amplify Energy oil pipeline into the Huntington Beach area of the Pacific Ocean in October 2021, prompting beach closures for about a week. Taylor Romine, CNN, 16 Mar. 2024 Last year, American companies pumped 13 million barrels each day on average, a record that had made the United States the largest crude oil producer in the world, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Lisa Friedman, New York Times, 15 Mar. 2024 What is the Line 5 pipeline used for? Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline transports 450,000 barrels per day of crude oil and 80,000 barrels of natural gas liquids, which are refined into propane. Caitlin Looby, Journal Sentinel, 14 Mar. 2024 The price at the pump can vary greatly due to a number of factors, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, including the cost of crude oil, the cost to refine oil into gasoline, and taxes. Chad Murphy, The Enquirer, 12 Mar. 2024 Seeps occur when crude oil leaks from fractures in the seafloor or rises up through seafloor sediments. Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2024 To try to cap the price of Russian oil exports, the G-7 prevented these companies from insuring Russian crude oil cargoes unless they had been sold at a maximum of $60 per barrel. Jami Miscik, Foreign Affairs, 11 Mar. 2024
Noun
Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 14 cents to $86.75 per barrel. Elaine Kurtenbach, Quartz, 19 Mar. 2024 The location of the seep is not far from the site of a large spill in 2021 that occurred when a ship’s anchor punctured an underwater oil pipeline in San Pedro Bay, sending 25,000 gallons of crude gushing into the waters off Huntington Beach. Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2024 Brent crude, the international standard, gained 29 cents to $83.25 a barrel. Yuri Kageyama, Quartz, 7 Mar. 2024 Since November, Brent crude, the global benchmark, has risen by nearly $2 a barrel, up to $83.46. Nicole Goodkind, CNN, 4 Mar. 2024 The Russian air force began bolting satellite-guidance kits and pop-out wings onto 1,100-pound and 3,300-pound KAB bombs in order to produce crude, but effective, precision glide-bombs. David Axe, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024 When villain Sephiroth undergoes a dramatic early-game personality shift, the original game trusted our imaginations to make that leap with crude, faceless blocky 3D models. Gene Park, Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2024 Diamondback’s and Endeavor’s assets compliment each other very well, paving the way for the combined company to produce crude more efficiently, said Dan Pickering, who is founder and chief investment officer of Pickering Energy Partners and a veteran of the shale-finance sector. Mitchell Ferman, Fortune, 12 Feb. 2024 Brent crude fell more than 1% to trade below $79 a barrel. WSJ, 28 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'crude.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective and Noun

Middle English, from Latin crudus raw, crude, undigested — more at raw

First Known Use

Adjective

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Noun

circa 1904, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of crude was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near crude

Cite this Entry

“Crude.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crude. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

crude

1 of 2 adjective
cruder; crudest
1
: being in a natural state and not changed by cooking or refining : raw
crude oil
2
: not having or showing good manners : vulgar
3
: planned or done in a rough or unskilled way
a crude drawing
crudely adverb
crudeness noun

crude

2 of 2 noun
: crude oil

More from Merriam-Webster on crude

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