Definition of fracking
: the injection of fluid into shale beds at high pressure in order to free up petroleum resources (such as oil or natural gas)
What's Trending Now
More Trending Words
fracking was our Word of the Day on 06/26/2014. Hear the podcast!
Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP
Recent Examples of fracking from the Web
-
Even the intelligence community report last year said anti-fracking movements were something that the Russian government was funding and trying to affect U.S. policy.
-
Drillers would be able to use the train to slash the cost of sand used in fracking, a process that fractures rock deep underground to force the release of oil and gas.
-
California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, said the rollback violated the law by failing to consider the environmental impacts of fracking, such as the possible contamination of underground water tables.
-
Since the fracking boom, prices averaged less than $3.20 between 2012 and 2016.
-
The fracking boom happened during the Bush and Obama administrations, and the United States was going to become a net exporter of liquid natural gas no matter who won in 2016.
-
Carriage rides Hawking had come to Texas because of oil money, particularly that of a Houston wildcatter named George Mitchell, who launched the present-day fracking boom.
-
Michigan Potash proposes to use solution mining — wells not unlike typical oil and gas fracking wells, but that would inject brine water thousands of feet underground to dissolve potash, bring it to the surface, and then dry and reconstitute it.
-
The oil produced at Taft is not produced by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as much of it is in Texas and North Dakota.
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.
Did You Know?
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.
Origin and Etymology of fracking
by shortening & alteration from (hydraulic) fracturing
FRACKING Defined for English Language Learners
Definition of fracking for English Language Learners
-
: a method used for getting oil and gas from underground rocks by injecting liquid into the rocks so that they break apart
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up fracking? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
