Meanings
present singular third person refuels · US participle present refueling · UK participle present refuelling · US participle past refueled · US past refueled · UK participle past refuelled · UK past refuelled
- ambitransitiveTo refill with fuel.
[…] bundle the sorted, weighed, zipcoded parcels aboard the already refueled aircraft, which speedily take off […]
1989, Richard L. Daft, Organization theory and design5 more examples
On a vast, dry lakebed called Tianshuihai, we came to a community of sorts, a desperate huddle of concrete and mud structures. My map labeled the region “Soda Plain,” and it seemed a long time since any water had gathered there. It was also, evidently, earthquake country. Buildings, many of them abandoned, had been shaken off their foundations; their walls had cracked and roofs fallen in. The military post and gas depot where Qu stopped to refuel had been shored up by heavy concrete buttresses. Thousands of fifty-gallon drums littered the ground, along with broken machinery, derelict vehicles, chunks of concrete, goat carcasses, cans, bottles, and shit.
1991, Jeremy Schmidt, Himalayan Passage: Seven Months in the High Country of Tibet, Nepal, China, India, & Pakistan, Seattle: The Mountaineers, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 117Guided by the Earth’s magnetic field, starlight and other biocompasses that scientists have yet to fully divine, the birds wheel over land and sea, alighting opportunistically en route to rest, preen and refuel.
2007 September 18, Natalie Angier, “Songs and Sojourns of the Season”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 16 Jan 2018In his statement, Miliband said the two flights had refuelled at Diego Garcia. Each one had a single detainee on board who did not leave the aircraft.
2008 February 22, Richard Norton-Taylor and Julian Borger, “Embarrassed Miliband admits two US rendition flights refuelled on British soil”, in The GuardianThe United States refuels military jets and provides intelligence support to the military coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, that is trying to defeat Houthi insurgents in Yemen.
2015 December 22, Somini Sengupta, “Saudi-Led War in Yemen Frays Ties With the U.S.”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Mar 2016The president of the FIA, Jean Todt, has said he would like to see a return of in-race refuelling to Formula One as a way to improve the sport.
2019 July 12, Giles Richards, “FIA president Jean Todt calls for return of refuelling during races”, in The Guardian
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Italic*wre-
- Latinre-
- Old Frenchre-
- Middle Englishre-
- Englishre-
- Englishfuel
- Englishrefuel
Translations
Bulgarian зареждам с гориво
- зареждам с гориво (zareždam s gorivo)to refill with fuel
Catalan fer benzina
- fer benzinato refill with fuel
Chinese Mandarin 補充燃料 /补充燃料, 加油
- 補充燃料 /补充燃料 (bǔchōng ránliào)to refill with fuel
- 加油 (jiāyóu)to refill with fuel
Dutch bijtanken
- bijtankento refill with fuel
Finnish tankata
- tankatato refill with fuel
French faire le plein, ravitailler
- faire le pleinto refill with fuel
- ravitaillerto refill with fuel
German tanken, auftanken
- tankento refill with fuel
- auftankento refill with fuel
Hungarian feltankol, megtankol
- feltankolto refill with fuel
- megtankolto refill with fuel
- tankolto refill with fuel
- üzemanyagot vesz felto refill with fuel
Japanese 給油する
- 給油するto refill with fuel
Polish tankować, zatankować
- tankowaćto refill with fuel
- zatankowaćto refill with fuel
Russian дозаправля́ть, дозапра́вить
- дозаправля́ть (dozapravljátʹ)to refill with fuel
- дозапра́вить (dozaprávitʹ)to refill with fuel
- дозаправля́ться (dozapravljátʹsja)to refill with fuel
Spanish repostar, llenar el tanque
- repostarto refill with fuel
- llenar el tanqueto refill with fuel
Swedish tanka
- tankato refill with fuel
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with refuel
Anagrams
Cite this entry
refuel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/refuel
“refuel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/refuel. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “refuel,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/refuel.
Source: refuel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.