Petrol
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A fluid consisting of a mixture of refined petroleum hydrocarbons, primarily consisting of octane, commonly used as a motor fuel. Commonwealth, uncountable, usually
"1987 October 29, Advertisement, New Scientist, page 31, We were the first company to introduce unleaded petrol in Britain, opening our first pump in June 1986."
- 2 a volatile flammable mixture of hydrocarbons (hexane and heptane and octane etc.) derived from petroleum; used mainly as a fuel in internal-combustion engines wordnet
- 3 A motor vehicle powered by petrol (as opposed to diesel). informal, uncountable, usually
"However, I do feel entitled to criticise the car. There are lots of different versions: manuals and automatics; petrols and diesels; two-wheel drives and four-wheel drives, and it's possible to spend thirty grand on one."
- 1 To fill or supply (a vehicle, etc.) with petrol. dated, transitive
Example
More examples"Our car ran out of petrol after ten minutes."
Etymology
Borrowed from French (essence de) pétrole, from Medieval Latin petroleum, from Ancient Greek πετρέλαιον (petrélaion, “oil of the rock”), from πέτρα (pétra, “stone, rock”)+ ἔλαιον (élaion, “olive oil, any oily substance”). Doublet of petroleum.
Related phrases
More for "petrol"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.