How to Use hydrocarbon in a Sentence

hydrocarbon

noun
  • To coin a phrase, the rising cost of hydrocarbons floods all boats.
    — Scott Montgomery, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026
  • The gems form in the hydrocarbon-rich oceans of slush that swath the gas giants' solid cores.
    — Sarah Kaplan, chicagotribune.com, 25 Aug. 2017
  • It's been a banner week for hydrocarbons made from waste gases.
    — Megan Geuss, Ars Technica, 4 Oct. 2018
  • In some parts of the Gulf, hydrocarbons gush directly out of the seafloor.
    — Jeffrey Marlow, New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2026
  • But there are no hydrocarbons in the granite below us, only heat.
    — Gregory Barber, WIRED, 19 July 2023
  • Reliance on long-dead trees for hydrocarbons doesn't stop at gasoline, after all.
    — Chris Lee, Ars Technica, 5 Apr. 2018
  • This method utilizes solvents like ethanol or hydrocarbons to dissolve the cannabinoids present in the hemp plant.
    — Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 12 Aug. 2023
  • The red streaks in the composite image are caused by glowing, hydrocarbon-rich dust.
    — Jamie Carter, Forbes, 2 Aug. 2022
  • But on Titan, the rivers and lakes are full of sloshing liquid hydrocarbons.
    — Sarah Kaplan, Anchorage Daily News, 28 June 2019
  • The province is hydrocarbon country, dotted with tens of thousands of wells.
    — William Ralston, Wired, 16 Dec. 2021
  • The mountains themselves are too deformed to hold hydrocarbons.
    — Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 6 Mar. 2026
  • This cracks long plastic chains into smaller hydrocarbon chunks.
    — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 6 June 2026
  • Titan’s rivers, lakes and seas—like Kraken Mare—are filled with hydrocarbons.
    — Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 7 Apr. 2020
  • But none are made of water—instead, liquid hydrocarbons like methane are the building blocks.
    — Popular Mechanics, 25 May 2023
  • Each of these fuels consists of hydrocarbons built by plants that grew on the Earth over the past few hundred million years.
    — Kenneth J. Davis, The Conversation, 13 Aug. 2025
  • But the idea that a carbon tax is a painless, efficient way to reduce hydrocarbons fails for three reasons.
    — Mark P. Mills, WSJ, 8 Jan. 2019
  • For the block copolymer, the second block was a hydrocarbon with most of the hydrogens swapped out for fluorine atoms.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 6 July 2022
  • Shangri-La’s sand dunes aren’t silicates like on Earth, though, but likely grains of frozen hydrocarbons.
    — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 10 Apr. 2026
  • These lakes and Titan's seas are filled with liquid hydrocarbons like ethane and methane rather than water.
    — Robert Lea, Space.com, 15 July 2025
  • But not long after poly aromatic hydrocarbons, commonly known as lampblack, were found in the soil.
    — Lou Ponsi, Oc Register, 16 Sep. 2025
  • Isoprene is the most abundant hydrocarbon in our breath, and is thought to be the product of cholesterol synthesis in our bodies.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 12 May 2016
  • During the cold start, his engine spews a large amount of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and a whole slew of hydrocarbons.
    — Anchorage Daily News, 4 Jan. 2020
  • The Persian Gulf is not merely a conduit for hydrocarbons.
    — John W.h. Denton Ao, Fortune, 6 June 2026
  • Like Enceladus, Titan is a chilly place, and so those liquids are hydrocarbons rather than water.
    — The Economist, 7 Sep. 2017
  • Crude oil is mostly a complex mixture of hydrocarbons, which are compounds made of carbon and hydrogen atoms.
    — Anne D’innocenzio, Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 2026
  • Since the discovery of hydrocarbon deposits beneath the seabed a few years ago, both countries have claimed the right to exploit the resources.
    — Nick Squires, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 Sep. 2020
  • Beijing does not limit its engagement to trade or hydrocarbons, though both matter a great deal to Beijing.
    — Dewardric L. McNeal, CNBC, 11 Jan. 2026
  • The pivot comes as oil and gas majors double down on hydrocarbons and scale back green energy investments as part of a push to boost profit.
    — Sam Meredith, CNBC, 14 Jan. 2026
  • If all goes well, a massive fireball of hydrocarbons will ignite in the New Mexico desert some time in the next year.
    — Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic, 5 Feb. 2018
  • Through this process, a bio-oil rich in hydrocarbons was extracted by heating the material in the absence of oxygen.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 14 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hydrocarbon.' 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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