bitumen

/ˈbɪtʃʊmən/ (bre, ipa) · /bɪˈtuːmən/ (ame, ipa) · /bə-ˈtyü-mən bī-, -ˈtü- especially British also ˈbit-yə-/ (ame, mw)

bitumen — noun

1. a thick black material spread on roads or roofs so the surface becomes hard and

1.名詞C1
釋義

a thick black material spread on roads or roofs so the surface becomes hard and waterproof.

例句

Road crews poured hot bitumen over the gravel before the rollers arrived.

pour hot bitumen over gravel

The builder brushed bitumen along the flat roof before the rainstorm.

bitumen for roof waterproofing

同義詞
  • asphalt

    often overlaps in road-building contexts, especially for the finished road surface.

  • tar

    a darker, less exact everyday word for a sticky black coating material.

用法筆記

Usually uncountable and most often used in construction contexts. This sense focuses on the practical material spread on roads, roofs, and other surfaces that need waterproof sealing.

常見錯誤

❌The workers laid three bitumens across the road.
✅The workers laid bitumen across the road.
💡when you mean the material itself, bitumen is usually uncountable.

2. a general technical term for natural or processed heavy hydrocarbon mixtures, in

2.名詞C2
釋義

a general technical term for natural or processed heavy hydrocarbon mixtures, including tar-like material left after oil refining.

例句

The lab compared natural bitumen from the lake with waste from an oil plant.

natural bitumen in technical comparison

Geologists found bitumen trapped between thick rock layers underground.

bitumen in geological deposits

同義詞
  • asphalt

    sometimes overlaps in engineering writing, though some writers use it more narrowly than bitumen.

  • hydrocarbon mixture

    a scientific description of the material rather than a neat everyday substitute.

用法筆記

More technical than sense 1 and most common in geology, chemistry, and engineering writing. It names the wider class of material, not just the road-surfacing form.

常見錯誤

❌The article says bitumen, so it only means road covering.
✅The article says bitumen, so it may mean a broader heavy oil material.
💡in technical writing the word can be wider than the road-building sense.