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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
Ian Dexter Palmer, Forbes.com, 22 Apr. 2025
In 2010, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, became the first major U.S. city to adopt and make legally enforceable the rights of nature, recognizing them as part of a ban on shale gas drilling and fracking.
—India Nye Wenner, Rolling Stone, 22 Apr. 2025
But fracking was developed by scientists and implemented by entrepreneurs lured to the field by those high prices.
—Bill Conerly, Forbes, 5 Dec. 2024
In 2005, Congress further enabled fracking to take off by exempting the technique from the Clean Water Act.
—Saul Elbein, The Hill, 17 Mar. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Fracking.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fracking. Accessed 6 May. 2025.
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