Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use coal in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb, adjective

Coal means a black or brownish black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel. Example: “The coal in this region was prized by ironmasters in centuries past, who mined it in the spots where the drainage methods of the day permitted.”

Examples of coal by meaning

nounA black or brownish black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.

  • The coal in this region was prized by ironmasters in centuries past, who mined it in the spots where the drainage methods of the day permitted.
  • Coal-eaters they may have been, but a more willing or harder working Atlantic engine was never designed.1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, pages 3, 5

nounA type of coal, such as bituminous, anthracite, or lignite, and grades and varieties thereof, as a fuel commodity ready...

  • Put some coal on the fire.
  • Order some coal from the coalyard.

nounA piece of coal used for burning (this use is less common in American English).

  • Put some coals on the fire.

nounA glowing or charred piece of coal, wood, or other solid fuel.

  • Just as the campfire died down to just coals, with no flames to burn the marshmallows, someone dumped a whole load of wood on, so I gave up and went to bed.

nounContent of low quality.

  • I'm so sick of seeing this coal online.

verbTo take on a supply of coal (usually of steam ships or locomotives).

  • N.W.R. four-cylinder 4-6-2 class "XS1," No. 761, coaling at Delhi junction.1949 November and December, Railway Magazine, page 371 (photo caption)

verbTo supply with coal.

  • to coal a steamer
  • He had to coal and light up the engine, as well as clean it, for the next day's work, which commenced with a light run to Barnham to "bring in the goods" from that station at about 6.30 a.m.1952 February, J. Pelham Maitland, “Locomotive Working on Sussex Branches Fifty Years Ago”, in Railway Magazine, page 84

verbTo be converted to charcoal.

  • After the initial burn the goal of any good fire should be coaling; that is, creating a bed of solid coals that will sustain the fire.2014, Ken Mudge, Steve Gabriel, Farming the Woods
  • As a result, particles of wood and twigs insufficiently coaled are frequently found at the bottom of such pits.1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 18

More sentences with coal

  • He came out of the coal mine with a face covered in black.From the entry mine
  • The fireman's job was about to get very interesting; they had just run out of coal!From the entry fireman
  • The coal burning plant was ordered to sequester its CO₂ emissions.From the entry sequester
  • Chad used to work as a coal miner, but couldn't handle the constant grunge.From the entry grunge
  • The seam of coal daylighted at a cliff by the river.From the entry daylight
  • Ragusa's campaign imploded after she confused coal mining with oil drilling during a speech.From the entry implode
  • The teacher hauled him over the coals for not doing his homework.From the entry haul someone over the coals
  • Balloon loops can be useful for passenger trains and unit freight trains, such as coal trains.From the entry balloon loop
  • Don't try this at home, but now I'm going to walk barefoot over the hot coals.From the entry don't try this at home
  • The formation consists of cyclothemic sequences of coal, shale, limestone, sandstone, and clay.From the entry cyclothemic
  • Most coal and ore comes from open-pit mines nowadays.From the entry mine
  • The freight was more expensive for cars than for coal.From the entry freight
  • We dumped the coal onto the fireplace.From the entry dump
  • The power plant consumes 30 tons of coal per hour.From the entry consume
  • There used to be a coal bunker at the back of the house - it was demolished years ago.From the entry bunker
  • Solar and wind power are renewable, but coal is not.From the entry renewable
  • The brakeman had to help the fireman shovel coal into the firebox as the engineer coaxed his locomotive up grade.From the entry fire box
  • She raked him over the coals for lying to her.From the entry rake over the coals
  • Dirt beds are common among the coal measures.From the entry dirt bed
  • You have your place in the coal mines!From the entry one's place
  • What does coal bring per ton?From the entry bring
  • As the prices of petroleum, natural gas, and coal fluctuate over the years, the petrochemical industry can to some extent switch feedstocks.From the entry petrochemical
  • These dolls were traditionally made of fabric stuffed with straw, and they often had carved wooden ears and polished coals for eyes.From the entry wooden ear
  • We now need to make coal-­ and gas-­fired power plants go the way of whale oil.2025 September 11, Kate Marvel, “‘We’ve done it before’: how not to lose hope in the fight against ecological disaster”, in The Guardian. From the entry go the way of
  • Ultimately, it was environomics that did for coal — and with it rail haulage.2024 March 6, Philip Haigh, “The decline of coal... and of rail freight's staple traffic”, in RAIL, number 1004, page 55. From the entry environomics
  • Raw coal was from Gaoping, Shanxi Province, dominated by powder anthracite.2022, Yuan Wang, Cuifeng Du, Jiuzhu Wang, Huaiyu Li, “Field Application of Mine Dust Suppression”, in Chemical Dust Suppression Technology…. From the entry Zhongzhan
  • The domestic coal depot at St Pancras, north of Somers Town Goods.2021 December 1, Nigel Harris, “St Pancras and King's Cross: 1947”, in RAIL, number 945, page 43, photo caption. From the entry turntable
  • Its aim is promoting green, low-carbon and environmentally friendly production in the coal mining industry.2021 August 11, Ailbhe Goodbody, “Nanlutian coal mine gets 120t electric truck”, in Mining Magazine, archived from the original on 20 Sep…. From the entry Holingol

Meaning of coal

  1. noun A black or brownish black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.
  2. noun A type of coal, such as bituminous, anthracite, or lignite, and grades and varieties thereof, as a fuel commodity ready to buy and burn.
  3. noun A piece of coal used for burning (this use is less common in American English).

Full definition of coal

Questions about coal in a sentence

How do you use coal in a sentence?
Coal is used as a noun, verb and adjective. For example: “The coal in this region was prized by ironmasters in centuries past, who mined it in the spots where the drainage methods of the day permitted.”
What is a short sentence with coal?
“to coal a steamer”
What does coal mean?
Coal means a black or brownish black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: coal (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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