noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A thin, often colorless or blue or straw-colored petroleum-based fuel, heavier than gasoline/petrol or naphtha but lighter than diesel, used primarily as jet fuel but also for heating and lighting in some remote or impoverished areas. countable, uncountable

   "The kerosene lasted all winter, so the furnace kept us always warm."

2. 2
   a flammable hydrocarbon oil used as fuel in lamps and heaters wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

coal oilcoal oillamp oil;alcoholavgas

Antonyms

All antonyms

gasoline

Example

More examples

"I warned little Mary to leave the kerosene heater alone."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κηρός (kērós, “wax”) + -ene; a name trademarked in 1854.

Related phrases

kerosene-likepower keroseneflammable fuelfossil fuelin lanternjet fuellamp fuellantern fuel

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.