: a fissile rock that is formed by the consolidation of clay, mud, or silt, has a finely stratified or laminated structure, and is composed of minerals essentially unaltered since deposition
Examples of shale in a Sentence
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Gabrielle completed the look with studded leather pumps in a shade of shale.
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Julia Teti, WWD, 12 Dec. 2024
Hidden behind a small thorny tree on one of the quarry’s walls, a dark gray vertical gash of shale intruded between masses of metamorphosed sandstone.
—Bypaul Voosen, science.org, 7 Nov. 2024
Higher elevation vineyards are noted for calcium-rich limestone or shale on the surface, while lower altitude areas and rolling hills will have this buried further down.
—Mike Desimone and Jeff Jenssen, Robb Report, 24 Feb. 2025
The local Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and climate activists were pitted against the corporate and government backers of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which was being built to carry oil from the state's Bakken shale fields to a terminal in Illinois.
—James K. Boyce, Scientific American, 1 Nov. 2018
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Julia Teti, WWD, 12 Dec. 2024
Hidden behind a small thorny tree on one of the quarry’s walls, a dark gray vertical gash of shale intruded between masses of metamorphosed sandstone.
—Bypaul Voosen, science.org, 7 Nov. 2024
Higher elevation vineyards are noted for calcium-rich limestone or shale on the surface, while lower altitude areas and rolling hills will have this buried further down.
—Mike Desimone and Jeff Jenssen, Robb Report, 24 Feb. 2025
The local Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and climate activists were pitted against the corporate and government backers of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which was being built to carry oil from the state's Bakken shale fields to a terminal in Illinois.
—James K. Boyce, Scientific American, 1 Nov. 2018
See All Example Sentences for shale
Cite this Entry
“Shale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shale. Accessed 19 Mar. 2025.
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