1
as in piercing
to make a hole or series of holes in
the nerve-jangling sound when a dentist drills a tooth
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2
as in shooting
to strike with a missile from a gun
drilled the target from 100 yards away
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as in planting
to put or set into the ground to grow
he drills soybeans in the same rows with corn
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Recent Examples of drilling
Nicole Blanchard, Idaho Statesman, 9 Sep. 2025
Their tasks frequently involve manual tools -cutting debris, drilling through rubble, or lifting objects, etc.
—Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 9 Sep. 2025
While Tranter tinkers and Zuzana monitors the wall of local surveillance footage, Karalis and his team get to work drilling through the wall of the vault.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 6 Sep. 2025
Renewed federal support for drilling in the US, combined with languid global oil demand and increasing drilling by OPEC countries, has pushed oil prices to their lowest level since the pandemic.
—Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 4 Sep. 2025
To fill out context, development costs in 2020 for drilling production and injection wells and production facilities lie in a range of $3 - $5 billion in GOA.
—Ian Dexter Palmer, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
And there are economic reasons to release methane from oil operations—to make more money drilling for more oil rather than to still make money, but less, capturing and using the gas found alongside the oil.
—Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Aug. 2025
And Stanton delivered, drilling a go-ahead two-run home run that proved to be the game-winner in the Yankees’ 6-4 victory.
—Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 21 Aug. 2025
Bedrock Energy, a geothermal drilling startup company that employs advanced drilling techniques developed by the oil and gas industry, is currently drilling dozens of boreholes that will help heat and cool the town’s Northwest Colorado Business District.
—Jonathan M. Gitlin, ArsTechnica, 21 Aug. 2025
Verb
The company has yet to disclose financial details of the projects, and so far has requested drilling on small footprints totaling 280 acres.
—Nicole Blanchard, Idaho Statesman, 9 Sep. 2025
Their tasks frequently involve manual tools -cutting debris, drilling through rubble, or lifting objects, etc.
—Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 9 Sep. 2025
While Tranter tinkers and Zuzana monitors the wall of local surveillance footage, Karalis and his team get to work drilling through the wall of the vault.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 6 Sep. 2025
Renewed federal support for drilling in the US, combined with languid global oil demand and increasing drilling by OPEC countries, has pushed oil prices to their lowest level since the pandemic.
—Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 4 Sep. 2025
To fill out context, development costs in 2020 for drilling production and injection wells and production facilities lie in a range of $3 - $5 billion in GOA.
—Ian Dexter Palmer, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
And there are economic reasons to release methane from oil operations—to make more money drilling for more oil rather than to still make money, but less, capturing and using the gas found alongside the oil.
—Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Aug. 2025
And Stanton delivered, drilling a go-ahead two-run home run that proved to be the game-winner in the Yankees’ 6-4 victory.
—Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 21 Aug. 2025
Bedrock Energy, a geothermal drilling startup company that employs advanced drilling techniques developed by the oil and gas industry, is currently drilling dozens of boreholes that will help heat and cool the town’s Northwest Colorado Business District.
—Jonathan M. Gitlin, ArsTechnica, 21 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Drilling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/drilling. Accessed 13 Sep. 2025.
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