a metal-bearing mineral or rock, or a native metal, that can be mined at a profit.
a mineral or natural product serving as a source of some nonmetallic substance, as sulfur.
a bronze coin of Norway, one 100th of a krone.
a zinc or bronze coin of Denmark, one 100th of a krone.
a bronze coin of Sweden, one 100th of a krona.
a fractional currency of the Faeroe Islands, one 100th of a krona.
Ore deposits are generally mined, and the ore is processed to recover the material.
before 900; conflation of Middle English ore, Old English ōra ore, unreduced metal; and Middle English or(e) ore, metal, Old English ār brass, cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German ēr, Old Norse eir, Gothic aiz; compare Latin aes bronze, coin, money
First recorded in 1600–10; ultimately from Latin aureus “a gold coin of ancient Rome”; see aureus ( def. )
Ore is a rock that contains minerals like iron, gold, or lead. The seven dwarfs in the movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" worked mining ore. Another meaning of ore is a Swedish unit of money. The krona is made up of 100 ore. In this use, ore is usually spelled with an umlaut over the o — öre. In English, ore is most commonly used to mean a material from which valuable metals or gems can be extracted. In Old English, ora means unwrought metal and ar means bronze. Both root words are thought to have influenced this sense of ore.
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The ore mined at Kamoa has a copper content of 2.8 percent, four times the global average.
From Barron's • Jun. 26, 2026
Participants sought to draw attention to cases of missing persons in Guadalajara, stating they went missing after protesting Ternium’s iron ore mining activities.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 21, 2026
If iron ore prices fall, the stocks of higher-margin producers including BHP and Rio Tinto would likely fare better than lower-margin operators including Fortescue and Mineral Resources, UBS says.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 17, 2026
Spot iron ore trades at around $102 per ton, effectively in line with the 95th percentile of the industry’s cost curve, says UBS.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 17, 2026
Gold-mining on the Witwatersrand was costly because the ore was low grade and deep under the earth.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
