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pe·tro·le·um (p ə-tr ōl ē- əm)
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n. A thick, flammable, yellow-to-black mixture of gaseous, liquid, and solid hydrocarbons that occurs naturally beneath the earth's surface, can be separated into fractions including natural gas, gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, fuel and lubricating oils, paraffin wax, and asphalt and is used as raw material for a wide variety of derivative products.
[Middle English, from Medieval Latin petrōleum : Latin petra, rock; see PETROUS + Latin ōleum, oil; see OIL.] |
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