Definition of FRACKING

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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

Recent Examples on the Web An Associated Press-NORC poll last month found only 22% of Americans support increasing fracking while 45% oppose it. — Washington Post, "Democrats step on shaky political ground with fracking bans," 11 Sep. 2019 Kamala Harris wants to get rid of the electoral college and ban fracking. — Ineye Komonibo, Marie Claire, "Andrew Yang's 2020 Dark-Horse Presidential Platform," 12 Sep. 2019 An Associated Press-NORC poll last month found only 22% of Americans support increasing fracking while 45% oppose it. — Washington Post, "Democrats step on shaky political ground with fracking bans," 11 Sep. 2019 An Associated Press-NORC poll last month found only 22% of Americans support increasing fracking while 45% oppose it. — Nicholas Riccardi, The Denver Post, "Democrats step on shaky political ground with fracking bans," 10 Sep. 2019 His proposal would also ban fracking and institute a carbon fee with the goal of having net-zero emissions for electricity by 2030. — Grace Segers, CBS News, "Where the 2020 candidates stand on climate change," 4 Sep. 2019 Powered by a natural gas fracking boom, employment rebounded after the Great Recession. — Washington Post, "Hospital closings hit hard on the edge of the Rust Belt," 8 Sep. 2019 As a result, manufacturing, agriculture and timber companies, which weren’t benefiting from the fracking boom, still relaxed their education and experience requirements. — Greg Ip, WSJ, "A Record Expansion’s Surprise Winners: The Low-Skilled," 10 July 2019 But in the Southeast and other regions, natural gas continues to dominate, because of its reliability and low prices driven by the fracking boom. — New York Times, "As Coal Fades in the U.S., Natural Gas Becomes the Climate Battleground," 26 June 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fracking.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.