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Hydraulic fracturing is a technique in which a liquid is injected under high pressure into a well in order to create tiny fissures in the rock deep beneath the earth which then allow gas and oil to flow into the well. The term "hydraulic fracturing" is first known to have appeared in print in a 1948 issue of Oil & Gas Journal. A 1953 issue of the same journal also contains the earliest known print use of "fracking." The word fracking (sometimes spelled fraccing or fracing, particularly by those in the gas and oil industries) was created by shortening "fracturing." The addition of the "k" brings the word into conformity with the inflected forms of similar English words ending in a vowel plus "c," such as shellacking, panicking, and frolicking.
Examples of fracking in a Sentence
Umair Irfan, Vox, 23 Apr. 2025
Sage uses fracking technology to crack open hot rocks even deeper underground, enabling access to heat in more locations.
—Alexander C. Kaufman, The Atlantic, 4 Apr. 2025
At a nearby tank battery, where workers deposit oil or fracking fluid, invisible smoke streamed into the air.
—Saul Elbein, The Hill, 17 Mar. 2025
Therefore extreme weather events are not an argument to discontinue fracking and production of natural gas in Pennsylvania.
—Ian Dexter Palmer, Forbes, 27 Oct. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Fracking.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fracking. Accessed 28 May. 2025.
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