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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
Bill Stone, Forbes.com, 22 June 2025
Republican support over the last five years has increased for offshore drilling, fracking and coal mining.
—Cory Smith, Baltimore Sun, 9 June 2025
Though Harris supported banning fracking during her bid for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential primary, the U.S. has produced record amounts of oil and natural gas under the Biden administration.
—Spencer Kimball, CNBC, 28 Oct. 2024
Natural gas is often produced by fracking, and the Pittsburgh area is home to heavy concentrations of fracking wells.
—Ryan Deto, Axios, 16 Apr. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Fracking.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fracking. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
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