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
Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Apr. 2026
The price surge also has had political ramifications for oil production in California, with Trump invoking a Cold War-era law to force the controversial resumption of offshore drilling in the Golden State, citing the need to bolster domestic oil production for national security purposes.
—Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2026
The Republican wants to open new areas of the Gulf off Florida to drilling, and has proposed sweeping rollbacks of environmental regulations disliked by industry.
—Matthew Brown The Associated Press, Arkansas Online, 1 Apr. 2026
Trump administration officials have argued the US needs to produce more oil to stabilize the global situation, even as energy analysts have pointed out that drilling for more oil here can’t alone solve that problem.
—Ella Nilsen, CNN Money, 31 Mar. 2026
Refineries differ somewhat from drilling in that they are partly concentrated in Texas (Houston, Beaumont, Corpus Christi, and Dallas) but also have a large presence in Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Bellingham, Wash.
—Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 26 Mar. 2026
End-to-end rush, fabulous deke on the goaltender, drilling it home with the net bulging as instant proof.
—Allan Mitchell, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2026
The visual of Christian Laettner drilling his turnaround, buzzer-beating jumper to defeat Pitino’s Kentucky Wildcats and send Duke to the 1992 Final Four remains omnipresent.
—Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 25 Mar. 2026
Other grass seeds twist as humidity changes, drilling seeds into the soil.
—Literary Hub, 25 Mar. 2026
Verb
As a result, there is a need to build geothermal plants in non-seismic, nonvolcanic areas of the world for drilling and reaching deeper geothermal resources.
—Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Apr. 2026
The price surge also has had political ramifications for oil production in California, with Trump invoking a Cold War-era law to force the controversial resumption of offshore drilling in the Golden State, citing the need to bolster domestic oil production for national security purposes.
—Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2026
The Republican wants to open new areas of the Gulf off Florida to drilling, and has proposed sweeping rollbacks of environmental regulations disliked by industry.
—Matthew Brown The Associated Press, Arkansas Online, 1 Apr. 2026
Trump administration officials have argued the US needs to produce more oil to stabilize the global situation, even as energy analysts have pointed out that drilling for more oil here can’t alone solve that problem.
—Ella Nilsen, CNN Money, 31 Mar. 2026
Refineries differ somewhat from drilling in that they are partly concentrated in Texas (Houston, Beaumont, Corpus Christi, and Dallas) but also have a large presence in Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Bellingham, Wash.
—Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 26 Mar. 2026
End-to-end rush, fabulous deke on the goaltender, drilling it home with the net bulging as instant proof.
—Allan Mitchell, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2026
The visual of Christian Laettner drilling his turnaround, buzzer-beating jumper to defeat Pitino’s Kentucky Wildcats and send Duke to the 1992 Final Four remains omnipresent.
—Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 25 Mar. 2026
Other grass seeds twist as humidity changes, drilling seeds into the soil.
—Literary Hub, 25 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Drilling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/drilling. Accessed 4 Apr. 2026.
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