What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Oil vs Coal - What's the difference?

oil | coal |

As nouns the difference between oil and coal

is that oil is while coal is (uncountable) a black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.

As a verb coal is

to take on a supply of coal (usually of steam ships).

oil

English

(wikipedia oil)

Alternative forms

* oyl (obsolete)

Noun

  • Liquid fat.
  • Petroleum-based liquid used as fuel or lubricant.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices). It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber.}}
  • An oil painting.
  • * 1973 , John Ulric Nef, Search for meaning: the autobiography of a nonconformist (page 89)
    • Yet, in another way, I was unable to put Picasso's oils in the same class as Cezanne's, or even (which will no doubt shock many readers) as Renoir's.

    Derived terms

    * burn the midnight oil * castor oil * cod liver oil * cottonseed oil * croton oil * crude oil * essential oil * evening primrose oil * gorli oil * grapeseed oil * mineral oil * motor oil * mustard oil * neck oil * North Sea oil * oil baron * oil field * oilman * oil paint * oil painting * oil refinery * oil sand * oil shale * oilskin * oilsmoke * oil stove * oil tanker * oil well * oily * olive oil * peak oil * pine oil * pour oil on troubled waters * rape oil * rapeseed oil * rock oil * sesame oil * shale oil * snake oil * sunflower oil * sweet oil * tall oil * tung oil * valve oil * vegetable oil

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To lubricate with oil.
  • * 1900 , L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Chapter 23:
    • Before they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair, and the Lion shook the dust out of his mane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=17 citation , passage=The face which emerged was not reassuring. 
  • To grease with oil for cooking.

    • Derived terms

    * unoil

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    coal

    English

    (wikipedia coal)

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (uncountable) A black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.
  • (countable) A piece of coal used for burning. Note that in British English either of the following examples could be used, whereas the latter would be more common in American English.
    • Put some coals on the fire.
    Put some coal on the fire.
  • (countable) A type of coal, such as bituminous, anthracite, or lignite, and grades and varieties thereof.
  • (countable) A glowing or charred piece of coal, wood, or other solid fuel.
    • Just as the camp-fire died down to just coals , with no flames to burn the marshmallows, someone dumped a whole load of wood on, so I gave up and went to bed.
  • Charcoal

    • Hyponyms

    * anthracite, bitumin

    Derived terms

    * bituminous coal, soft coal * brown coal * channel coal * coal ball * coal bed * coal black * coalboy * coal gas * coal hole * coal oil * coal tar * coal tit * coalmine, coal mine * coals to Newcastle * hard coal (see: anthracite) * white coal

    Related terms

    () * charcoal * colliery

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To take on a supply of coal (usually of steam ships).
  • * 1890 , (Oscar Wilde), The Picture of Dorian Gray , ch. XVI:
    • The light shook and splintered in the puddles. A red glare came from an outward-bound steamer that was coaling .
  • To be converted to charcoal.
  • * 1957 , H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry , p. 18:
    • As a result, particles of wood and twigs insufficiently coaled are frequently found at the bottom of such pits.
  • To burn to charcoal; to char.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • Charcoal of roots, coaled into great pieces.
  • To mark or delineate with charcoal.
    • (Camden)
  • To supply with coal.
    • to coal a steamer

    Anagrams

    *