How to Use kerosene in a Sentence

kerosene

noun
  • Roughly 85% of folks had ditched kerosene lamps by the end of the decade.
    Stephen McBride, Forbes, 9 Mar. 2021
  • There was the flicker of a kerosene light in the window.
    Lauren Groff, The New Yorker, 7 Feb. 2022
  • Then three men doused him in kerosene and burned him alive.
    James Forman Jr., The Atlantic, 3 Sep. 2017
  • Soon the tents glowed with lantern light and whispered with the sound of kerosene stoves.
    Neil Shea, National Geographic, 21 Aug. 2019
  • The platform dipped and some of the kerosene spilled on my backside.
    Dalton Ross, EW.com, 21 Sep. 2020
  • The Skenes sold kerosene to the Union Army and the railroad companies.
    Nancy Stearns Theiss, The Courier-Journal, 29 Sep. 2017
  • Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders raced to the wreck to spray firehoses of kerosene on the wreck.
    Kyle Smith, National Review, 20 Feb. 2020
  • But the story was a lit match, and the national mood at the time was kerosene.
    Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, 28 Apr. 2022
  • Later, the birds are cleaned with a mixture of kerosene and cow dung ash.
    National Geographic, 10 Sep. 2016
  • The car has four headlights and one taillight, all of which run on kerosene.
    David Krumboltz, The Mercury News, 13 Mar. 2017
  • They were furnished with a can of kerosene oil and matches....
    Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Mar. 2021
  • Japan’s imports of kerosene rose to a 14-year high last month due to cold weather.
    Firat Kayakiran, Bloomberg.com, 19 Feb. 2018
  • Rags burned, kerosene smudge, but smoke blended with clouds.
    Amanda Schaffer, The New Yorker, 28 May 2016
  • Three women and a man were stabbed and shot, their bodies then soaked in kerosene and set on fire.
    William Lee, chicagotribune.com, 29 June 2018
  • Prior to that, kerosene lanterns were the primary source of evening light.
    Daniel Lin, National Geographic, 23 Feb. 2017
  • Guests can expect gas lights and kerosene lanterns, a wood stove, and a porch overlooking the lake.
    Hilary Nangle, Travel + Leisure, 4 July 2023
  • Each evening, with the aid of a kerosene lamp, his great grandfather read passages from the Bible out loud, in Swedish.
    James R. Hagerty, WSJ, 5 Jan. 2022
  • The pot would be filled with a fuel oil such as kerosene and the rod would be placed inside so the pumice could soak up the fuel.
    oregonlive, 1 Feb. 2020
  • At the end of the killing video, Mr. Raigar sprinkles kerosene on Mr. Afrajul’s body, sets it on fire and calmly walks away.
    Jeffrey Gettleman and Suhasini Raj, New York Times, 8 Dec. 2017
  • If Obama lit the match, Sanders, as part of his primary bid, doused it in kerosene.
    Adam Harris, The Atlantic, 5 June 2019
  • Failing to light the gasoline with a long gauze fuse, the vandals tossed a kerosene torch through a porch window.
    Kori Rumore, chicagotribune.com, 24 Feb. 2022
  • In the mid-1800s, scientists began to distill oil for kerosene in lamps.
    Grant Segall, cleveland.com, 17 Sep. 2017
  • Gas, kerosene, and propane heaters are extremely flammable and should not be used indoors.
    Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 28 Dec. 2021
  • Like kerosene on a small blaze, this set off a conflagration.
    Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post, 28 June 2019
  • At night, Knott and her colleagues would gather around candles and kerosene lamps.
    Wudan Yan, The Atlantic, 7 Apr. 2021
  • The Fresnel lens first installed in it was lit by kerosene, but was electrified in 1934.
    Bruce Henderson, charlotteobserver, 13 Feb. 2018
  • In at least one instance, a Muslim boy was forced to drink kerosene and swallow a lighted match.
    Dexter Filkins, The New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2019
  • The offense arrived at exactly the right time as the Padres try to pile up enough runs to mask a bullpen too often full of kerosene.
    Bryce Miller Columnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Aug. 2020
  • Nirvana went to Albini for a taste of his sonic kerosene on In Utero — a highlight of both their careers.
    Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 9 May 2024
  • From crude oil, refiners first extract gasoline, kerosene and oil, and what remains at the bottom becomes the asphalt.
    Mansour Solaimanian, The Conversation, 10 May 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'kerosene.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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