Meaning & use
colliery
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Meaning
nouncountableBritish
A coal mine and the buildings and equipment around it.
Grammar: Countable: a colliery, two collieries. Often used with the definite article when referring to a specific one.
Patterns
- work at a colliery
- a colliery closes
The old colliery closed in the 1980s, leaving many miners without jobs.
He worked at a colliery in Yorkshire for over thirty years.
Word forms
| plural | collieries |
|---|
Common combinations
- coal colliery
- The coal colliery was the main employer in the valley.
- colliery worker
- Colliery workers faced dangerous conditions underground.
- colliery village
- The colliery village grew up around the mine.
- close a colliery
- The government decided to close the colliery.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- collier noun
- A coal miner or a ship that carries coal.
Commonly confused: colliery or colliery?
colliery vs colliery
Not to be confused with 'colliery' meaning a place where coal is mined; it is not related to 'college' or 'collie'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'colliery' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Colliery is a noun meaning a coal mine and its buildings, so it fits the first sentence. The others confuse it with 'colourful', 'collected', or 'scone'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “colliery”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.