How to Use opal in a Sentence

opal

noun
  • To this day, 70 percent of the world's opals are mined around Coober Pedy.
    Ken Jennings, Condé Nast Traveler, 14 May 2018
  • The necklace with the bow is centered on an 8-carat opal.
    Stellene Volandes, Town & Country, 27 Aug. 2021
  • Lightning Ridge opals have been mined since about 1901.
    Michelle Innis, New York Times, 5 July 2016
  • Salvation appears, not in the form of a rare opal, but as a lost purse full of gold coins.
    Nate Jones, Vulture, 15 July 2021
  • The silver adds a sparkle to your look, while the opal adds a little texture and color.
    Madison Yauger, Peoplemag, 2 May 2023
  • In the turmoil, the mine is evacuated, and two workers wrench a rare black opal from the seam.
    Jamie Lauren Keiles, New York Times, 27 Nov. 2019
  • And for more than 100 years, people have come to the Ridge to find their fortune chasing precious opal.
    Clare Watson, Smithsonian, 1 Aug. 2019
  • Lightning Ridge is known for its dark opals, and the opalized plant and animal fossils in and around its mines.
    Michelle Innis, New York Times, 5 July 2016
  • The men were alarmed to return to an empty camp, but Willie showed up later that night with a huge bag of opals slung over his shoulder.
    Ken Jennings, Condé Nast Traveler, 14 May 2018
  • The pigments are mixed with the glow powder and inlaid into a channel in the ring with synthetic opal.
    Erik S. Hanley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 4 Nov. 2021
  • This no-soak treatment also works well for turquoise and opals (which are also porous stones).
    Lauren Smith McDonough, Good Housekeeping, 28 Feb. 2023
  • Cloaked in white dust and surrounded by expansive plains, the town of Lightning Ridge produces the bulk of the world’s precious black opal.
    Clare Watson, Smithsonian, 1 Aug. 2019
  • This year, stone dials have been all the rage from bold jade to more unconventional opal.
    Cait Bazemore, Robb Report, 30 July 2024
  • The manager demonstrated how to use the rock hammers, and then people got to banging away, trying to find opals in the rock.
    Marla Jo Fisher, Orange County Register, 31 Jan. 2024
  • While her husband was digging for opal, Smith was searching for fossils.
    Clare Watson, Smithsonian, 1 Aug. 2019
  • The opal is larger than a brick and is broken into two pieces, which von Brandt said was a practice used decades ago to prove gem quality.
    chicagotribune.com, 20 Feb. 2022
  • Howard is convinced that magic rock filled with opals is going to be his salvation.
    David Sims, The Atlantic, 12 Dec. 2019
  • Stand before it and note the wildness of its gold borders, the generous use of opal and demantoid garnet.
    Stellene Volandes, Town & Country, 5 June 2023
  • The complex gold chain draws the eye upward and outward from the concentrated energy of the pendant to a final oval pair of small opals.
    Barrymore Laurence Scherer, WSJ, 28 Nov. 2018
  • The palette is made up of three shades: a golden peach (Gammaray), a metallic opal (Helix), and lavender pink (Roseshock).
    Jessica Prince Erlich, The Cut, 11 May 2018
  • Jewelry is made from recycled silver and stones, such as moody opals, sapphires, white topaz and labradorite.
    Linda Jerkins, ajc, 7 Mar. 2018
  • At the Emmys, the best drama actress nominee accessorized with opal David Webb earrings and wore her hair straight and sleek.
    Lindsay Weinberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Sep. 2019
  • Opal can be just about any color in the visible spectrum and most of the world's opal is mined from the Australian outback, according to the Australian Opal Centre.
    Ashley Strickland, CNN, 4 June 2019
  • The result: this giant black Australian opal set high in 18-karat gold, surrounded by marquise-cut diamonds, a totem at once wicked and wise.
    New York Times, 15 Feb. 2024
  • The clock’s glowing faces are made of opal, valued at $10 million to $20 million, according to some estimates.
    Mary Forgione, latimes.com, 29 Oct. 2017
  • For Swift’s special birthday, Sperry gave her a gorgeous opal ring, which many initially assumed was gifted to the singer by Kelce.
    Kelsie Gibson, Peoplemag, 11 Feb. 2024
  • On the main floor is an information booth, above which is a four-sided clock made from precious opal and estimated to be worth $10 to 20 million.
    Margie Goldsmith, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2023
  • Case in point: the Instagram-favorite makeup artist known simply as @thestudyofmakeup looked to opals for her latest viral makeup look.
    Devon Abelman, Allure, 20 Feb. 2018
  • And a tentacle seems much less menacing when set with fire opals, rubies, and diamonds.
    Stellene Volandes, Town & Country, 16 Sep. 2014
  • October: Opal Multicolored, shimmering opal is a gemstone that comes in a wide range of colors, but a bold blue is most commonly tied to the month of October.
    Aemilia Madden, Vogue, 10 Sep. 2024

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