Tar
/tɑːr/noun
A thick, sticky, dark colored material made from coal or wood.
The roads are paved with tar.
noun
Sailor or seaman in the navy.
He became a tar after joining the navy.
Usage tips
Informal
Colloquial
verb
To cover something, especially roads, with tar.
The city decided to tar the old dirt road.
verb
To criticize someone strongly.
They continue to tar him with the scandal.
Usage tips
Disapproving
noun
A thick, sticky, dark colored material made from coal or wood.
The roads are paved with tar.
noun
Sailor or seaman in the navy.
He became a tar after joining the navy.
Usage tips
Informal
Colloquial
verb
To cover something, especially roads, with tar.
The city decided to tar the old dirt road.
verb
To criticize someone strongly.
They continue to tar him with the scandal.
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 4
Pro Tip 1/3Not Always Literal
The word 'tar' can be used metaphorically to suggest something negative or unwanted is hard to remove.
His reputation was tarred by the scandal.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Connotation
'Tar' often carries a negative tone, implying messiness or damage.
The pristine beach was marred with blobs of tar.
Pro Tip 3/3Industrial Use
In modern times, 'tar' is commonly associated with road construction and maintenance.
Workers laid down tar to seal the cracks in the highway.
Compare with
asphaltbitumencementitiousgluepitchresinsealer
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Video examples
Martin Hanczyc: The line...
all kinds of stuff, because uncontrolled chemical reactions produce a diverse mixture of organic compounds. Think of it like a primordial ooze, okay? And it's a pool that's too difficult to fully characterize, even by modern methods, and the product looks brown, like this tar here on the left. A pure compound
Video examples
Safari Live - Day 7 PIPE...
looking at is in fact a crocodile but I cannot help but see that every time I witness one of these crossings that's what's going through my head the entire time log crocodile log crocodile oh now apparently tough how funny is that tar is on the same page and I'm so sad that
Video examples
Mallika Sarabhai: Dance...
when your husband comes home drunk and you wanna tan his hide. Want to kill that cyclist on the way to work, and string up your cousin 'cause she's such a jerk. Oh, dear. And as for outsiders, white, black or brown, tar and feather them, and whip them out of town.
Video examples
Theaster Gates: How to...
And by elevating the material and my dad's skill, could we start to think about tar just like clay, in a new way, shaping it differently, helping us to imagine what was possible? After clay, I was then kind of turned on to lots of different kinds of materials,
Video examples
How Marijuana Works PIPE...
times that of an unfiltered cigarette the tar attacks the small hair like cilia to protect the lungs and paralyzes or destroys them this allows the tar to penetrate leading to a greater risk of chronic bronchitis
Video examples
Why I must speak out...
subsidize fossil mewls by four hundred to five hundred billion dollars per year worldwide thus encouraging extraction of every fossil fuel mountaintop removal long wall mining fracking tar sands tar shale deep
Video examples
Fossils 101 PIPE National...
can help to preserve its original form and texture. Among many methods, this group includes organisms that have been frozen, preserved in tar pits, and mummified. One special case involves trapping organisms,
Video examples
Garth Lenz: The true...
and replacing it with the most high greenhouse-gas emission oil in the future. The world does not need any more tar mines. The world does not need any more pipelines to wed our addiction to fossil fuels.
Video examples
James Hansen: Why I must...
per year worldwide, thus encouraging extraction of every fossil fuel -- mountaintop removal, longwall mining, fracking, tar sands, tar shale, deep ocean Arctic drilling.
Video examples
Sneaky Orchid Tricks a...
eventually the male wasps tar of the orchids enticements
Video examples
Martin Hanczyc: The line...
all kinds of stuff, because uncontrolled chemical reactions produce a diverse mixture of organic compounds. Think of it like a primordial ooze, okay? And it's a pool that's too difficult to fully characterize, even by modern methods, and the product looks brown, like this tar here on the left. A pure compound
Video examples
Safari Live - Day 7 PIPE...
looking at is in fact a crocodile but I cannot help but see that every time I witness one of these crossings that's what's going through my head the entire time log crocodile log crocodile oh now apparently tough how funny is that tar is on the same page and I'm so sad that
Video examples
Mallika Sarabhai: Dance...
when your husband comes home drunk and you wanna tan his hide. Want to kill that cyclist on the way to work, and string up your cousin 'cause she's such a jerk. Oh, dear. And as for outsiders, white, black or brown, tar and feather them, and whip them out of town.
Video examples
Theaster Gates: How to...
And by elevating the material and my dad's skill, could we start to think about tar just like clay, in a new way, shaping it differently, helping us to imagine what was possible? After clay, I was then kind of turned on to lots of different kinds of materials,
Video examples
How Marijuana Works PIPE...
times that of an unfiltered cigarette the tar attacks the small hair like cilia to protect the lungs and paralyzes or destroys them this allows the tar to penetrate leading to a greater risk of chronic bronchitis
Video examples
Why I must speak out...
subsidize fossil mewls by four hundred to five hundred billion dollars per year worldwide thus encouraging extraction of every fossil fuel mountaintop removal long wall mining fracking tar sands tar shale deep
Video examples
Fossils 101 PIPE National...
can help to preserve its original form and texture. Among many methods, this group includes organisms that have been frozen, preserved in tar pits, and mummified. One special case involves trapping organisms,
Video examples
Garth Lenz: The true...
and replacing it with the most high greenhouse-gas emission oil in the future. The world does not need any more tar mines. The world does not need any more pipelines to wed our addiction to fossil fuels.
Video examples
James Hansen: Why I must...
per year worldwide, thus encouraging extraction of every fossil fuel -- mountaintop removal, longwall mining, fracking, tar sands, tar shale, deep ocean Arctic drilling.
Video examples
Sneaky Orchid Tricks a...
eventually the male wasps tar of the orchids enticements
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
John Ridley
American Director
When I go to business meetings, I'm still told way too often by some receptionist, 'The mail room is downstairs,' to believe that racial perceptions don't still exist. But I figure there are always going to be knuckleheads no matter how many of their herd get stuck in the tar pits of progress.
Quote examples
James Hansen
American Scientist
You can't turn on your television without seeing these advertisements about clean coal, clean tar sands and the claim that there's more jobs associated with fossil fuels than other industries. That's of course not true. But they're hammering that into the voters' heads.
Quote examples
Stacey Abrams
American Politician
A guy can try something and not be successful, and it's just about him. But when you're a person of color, when you're a woman, when you're a woman of color in particular, you mess it up, and other people get tarred by your decision-making. You never act alone.
Quote examples
William McDonough
American Designer
I suggest we take our heads out of the tar sands and look up to see the sun. We don't own it, but it provides us all with great, endless value. So, too, the wind. These free, renewable sources of 'energy currency' are perfect partners to what we own together.
Quote examples
Theaster Gates
American Artist
My first experience with the creative was mopping tar. If you let the tar sit, it can get cold pretty quickly. And because the mops are so heavy, you've got to dip it and then ride it really fast.
Quote examples
Norman Schwarzkopf
American General
Had we taken all of Iraq, we would have been like a dinosaur in the tar pit - we would still be there, and we, not the United Nations, would be bearing the costs of that occupation.
Quote examples
Andrew Lo
Economist
If troubled companies want to explain away 2008 as a 'black swan,' then someone should take responsibility for creating the oil slick that seems to have tarred the entire flock!
Quote examples
Mika
British Musician
If I really like the smell of something - a piece of tar or my goddaughter's plastic doll - I put a tiny piece in a bottle with a label. I keep them in a fridge in my bathroom.
Quote examples
Andrew Nikiforuk
Canadian Journalist
The tar sands boom has become the world's largest energy project, the world's largest construction project, and the world's largest capital project.
Quote examples
Jeff Goodell
American Author
Extracting oil from the tar sands is a nasty, polluting, energy-intensive business.
Quote examples
John Ridley
American Director
When I go to business meetings, I'm still told way too often by some receptionist, 'The mail room is downstairs,' to believe that racial perceptions don't still exist. But I figure there are always going to be knuckleheads no matter how many of their herd get stuck in the tar pits of progress.
Quote examples
James Hansen
American Scientist
You can't turn on your television without seeing these advertisements about clean coal, clean tar sands and the claim that there's more jobs associated with fossil fuels than other industries. That's of course not true. But they're hammering that into the voters' heads.
Quote examples
Stacey Abrams
American Politician
A guy can try something and not be successful, and it's just about him. But when you're a person of color, when you're a woman, when you're a woman of color in particular, you mess it up, and other people get tarred by your decision-making. You never act alone.
Quote examples
William McDonough
American Designer
I suggest we take our heads out of the tar sands and look up to see the sun. We don't own it, but it provides us all with great, endless value. So, too, the wind. These free, renewable sources of 'energy currency' are perfect partners to what we own together.
Quote examples
Theaster Gates
American Artist
My first experience with the creative was mopping tar. If you let the tar sit, it can get cold pretty quickly. And because the mops are so heavy, you've got to dip it and then ride it really fast.
Quote examples
Norman Schwarzkopf
American General
Had we taken all of Iraq, we would have been like a dinosaur in the tar pit - we would still be there, and we, not the United Nations, would be bearing the costs of that occupation.
Quote examples
Andrew Lo
Economist
If troubled companies want to explain away 2008 as a 'black swan,' then someone should take responsibility for creating the oil slick that seems to have tarred the entire flock!
Quote examples
Mika
British Musician
If I really like the smell of something - a piece of tar or my goddaughter's plastic doll - I put a tiny piece in a bottle with a label. I keep them in a fridge in my bathroom.
Quote examples
Andrew Nikiforuk
Canadian Journalist
The tar sands boom has become the world's largest energy project, the world's largest construction project, and the world's largest capital project.
Quote examples
Jeff Goodell
American Author
Extracting oil from the tar sands is a nasty, polluting, energy-intensive business.
Example 1 of 10
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