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
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
Eric Preven, Oc Register, 19 Sep. 2025
Layer on infrastructure costs, amortization, new storage mandates, refinery retrofits for changing crude blends and the lagging effects of the LCFS credit.
—Michael Mische, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Sep. 2025
Gaurav Sharma, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2025
The San Pablo Bay Pipeline is the larger of two conduits carrying crude to Northern California.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 11 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for crude
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Adjective
If even a crude silent gesture has drawn constitutional protection, fragile egos don’t justify a gag.
—Eric Preven, Oc Register, 19 Sep. 2025
Layer on infrastructure costs, amortization, new storage mandates, refinery retrofits for changing crude blends and the lagging effects of the LCFS credit.
—Michael Mische, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Sep. 2025
Noun
The figure included a 25% penalty for buying crude from Russia that the White House described as key source of funds for Moscow for the war in Ukraine.
—Gaurav Sharma, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2025
The San Pablo Bay Pipeline is the larger of two conduits carrying crude to Northern California.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 11 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for crude
Cite this Entry
“Crude.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crude. Accessed 23 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
crude
2 of 2 noun
: crude oil
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