cruder; crudest
1
: marked by the primitive, gross, or elemental or by uncultivated simplicity or vulgarity
a crude stereotype
crude tools
crude jokes
2
: existing in a natural state and unaltered by cooking or processing
crude oil
crude ore
3
: rough or inexpert in plan or execution
a crude shelter
4
: lacking a covering, glossing, or concealing element : obvious
crude facts
5
: tabulated without being broken down into classes
the crude death rate
crudely
adverb
crudeness
noun
: a substance in its natural unprocessed state
especially
: unrefined petroleum
Synonyms
Examples of crude in a Sentence
Adjective
They built a crude shelter out of branches.
a crude summary of the country's history
She first described the procedure in crude terms, and then went into more detail.
Recent Examples on the Web
Vasco Cotovio, CNN, 2 Apr. 2024
Oil prices fell after the EIA reported that total domestic commercial crude stocks increased by 3.2 million barrels to 448.2 million barrels.
—Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press, 1 Apr. 2024
Key Background Gas prices have surged to their highest point this month after the West Texas Intermediate, a national benchmark for crude oil, reached a four-month high.
—Ty Roush, Forbes, 30 Mar. 2024
In other trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 38 cents to $81.73 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
—Elaine Kurtenbach, Quartz, 28 Mar. 2024
Dirty diesel fuel is a fuel that may be contaminated with water or sediment picked up during the refining process coming in with crude oil, or from the catalyst used in some other refining processes, according to Lipow.
—Lawrence Richard, Fox News, 28 Mar. 2024
In 2010, a different Enbridge pipeline spilled more than one million gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Mich.
—Dionne Searcey, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2024
For humans, the sense of smell is a crude and imprecise tool.
—Jack Gedney, The Mercury News, 11 Mar. 2024
In other trading early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil shed 10 cents to $82.06 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
—Elaine Kurtenbach, Quartz, 19 Mar. 2024
Morgan Haefner, Quartz, 3 Apr. 2024
Brent crude, the world’s oil benchmark, climbed as much as 1.8% to $89 a barrel, the highest since early September, before paring those gains slightly mid-afternoon in Europe.
—Anna Cooban, CNN, 2 Apr. 2024
Just Blew One Up In Eastern Ukraine Voluntary supply restraints - Member nations in the OPEC+ oil cartel recently renewed their commitments to restrain their own export volumes as a means of supporting the international Brent price for crude at a floor of $80 per barrel.
—David Blackmon, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
In follow-up emails and a phone call, spokespeople for the state said the fines cover the first phase of the Cymric spill, in which a river of thick crude flowed down a natural watershed.
—Janet Wilson, ProPublica, 22 Mar. 2024
Thanks in part to sanctions and boycotts, that’s a discount from around $83 for international benchmark Brent crude.
—David McHugh, Fortune Europe, 12 Mar. 2024
Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 14 cents to $86.75 per barrel.
—Elaine Kurtenbach, Quartz, 19 Mar. 2024
The location of the seep is not far from the site of a large spill in 2021 that occurred when a ship’s anchor punctured an underwater oil pipeline in San Pedro Bay, sending 25,000 gallons of crude gushing into the waters off Huntington Beach.
—Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2024
Brent crude, the international standard, gained 29 cents to $83.25 a barrel.
—Yuri Kageyama, Quartz, 7 Mar. 2024
Adjective
Several experts contacted by CNN said that rather than hitting fuel storage facilities, for example, Ukraine was hitting distillation units, where crude oil is processed and turned into fuel or other derivatives.
—Vasco Cotovio, CNN, 2 Apr. 2024
Oil prices fell after the EIA reported that total domestic commercial crude stocks increased by 3.2 million barrels to 448.2 million barrels.
—Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press, 1 Apr. 2024
Key Background Gas prices have surged to their highest point this month after the West Texas Intermediate, a national benchmark for crude oil, reached a four-month high.
—Ty Roush, Forbes, 30 Mar. 2024
In other trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 38 cents to $81.73 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
—Elaine Kurtenbach, Quartz, 28 Mar. 2024
Dirty diesel fuel is a fuel that may be contaminated with water or sediment picked up during the refining process coming in with crude oil, or from the catalyst used in some other refining processes, according to Lipow.
—Lawrence Richard, Fox News, 28 Mar. 2024
In 2010, a different Enbridge pipeline spilled more than one million gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Mich.
—Dionne Searcey, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2024
For humans, the sense of smell is a crude and imprecise tool.
—Jack Gedney, The Mercury News, 11 Mar. 2024
In other trading early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil shed 10 cents to $82.06 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
—Elaine Kurtenbach, Quartz, 19 Mar. 2024
Noun
Brent crude, one of the major global oil benchmarks, was trading at over $88 a barrel yesterday.
—Morgan Haefner, Quartz, 3 Apr. 2024
Brent crude, the world’s oil benchmark, climbed as much as 1.8% to $89 a barrel, the highest since early September, before paring those gains slightly mid-afternoon in Europe.
—Anna Cooban, CNN, 2 Apr. 2024
Just Blew One Up In Eastern Ukraine Voluntary supply restraints - Member nations in the OPEC+ oil cartel recently renewed their commitments to restrain their own export volumes as a means of supporting the international Brent price for crude at a floor of $80 per barrel.
—David Blackmon, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
In follow-up emails and a phone call, spokespeople for the state said the fines cover the first phase of the Cymric spill, in which a river of thick crude flowed down a natural watershed.
—Janet Wilson, ProPublica, 22 Mar. 2024
Thanks in part to sanctions and boycotts, that’s a discount from around $83 for international benchmark Brent crude.
—David McHugh, Fortune Europe, 12 Mar. 2024
Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 14 cents to $86.75 per barrel.
—Elaine Kurtenbach, Quartz, 19 Mar. 2024
The location of the seep is not far from the site of a large spill in 2021 that occurred when a ship’s anchor punctured an underwater oil pipeline in San Pedro Bay, sending 25,000 gallons of crude gushing into the waters off Huntington Beach.
—Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2024
Brent crude, the international standard, gained 29 cents to $83.25 a barrel.
—Yuri Kageyama, Quartz, 7 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'crude.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Phrases Containing crude
Dictionary Entries Near crude
Cite this Entry
“Crude.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crude. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
crude
2 of 2 noun
: crude oil
More from Merriam-Webster on crude
Nglish: Translation of crude for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of crude for Arabic Speakers
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