How to Use wildcatter in a Sentence

wildcatter

noun
Definition of wildcatternext
  • Wildcatters have moved in, and so have the armed groups that now call themselves the law here.
    — Written By Nicholas Casey; Photographs By Meridith Kohut, New York Times, 16 Aug. 2016
  • Too high, and the wildcatters in Texas would drill for fresh supply.
    — The Economist, 18 Jan. 2018
  • As the wildcatters pump water into the earth, deep pits form and the amber, lighter than the rocks and sand, is pushed up in the water column.
    — Brendan Hoffman, National Geographic, 31 Jan. 2017
  • As the wildcatters pump water into the earth, deep pits form and the amber, lighter than the rocks and sand, is pushed up in the water column.
    — Brendan Hoffman, National Geographic, 31 Jan. 2017
  • Jones is a wildcatter from way back with a bit of riverboat gambler thrown in for good measure.
    — Michael Gehlken, Dallas News, 21 Sep. 2021
  • Thompson, the daughter of late Texas wildcatter J. Cleo Thompson, is well-suited to the task.
    — Mary Grace Granados, Dallas News, 27 July 2021
  • In another spot, hundreds of wildcatters had dug out a gaping maw of red and white soil.
    — Written By Nicholas Casey; Photographs By Meridith Kohut, New York Times, 16 Aug. 2016
  • The joke wore off in the 2000s when wildcatters and independent oil producers began to crack the hard-rock code.
    — Kevin Crowley, Bloomberg.com, 7 Mar. 2018
  • The energy behemoths have the balance-sheets to buy the wildcatters.
    — The Economist, 9 Aug. 2019
  • With a mop of unkempt hair and a penchant for elegant double-breasted suits, Souki didn’t look the part of a Houston wildcatter.
    — New York Times, 6 July 2022
  • The ensuing crash pained petrostates and wildcatters alike.
    — The Economist, 4 July 2019
  • Don Graham, a Texas writer and professor, digs into Giant like a wildcatter drilling for oil.
    — Gary M. Kramer, Philly.com, 4 May 2018
  • After college, Red worked as a wildcatter for an oil company.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Mar. 2021
  • Many Texas wildcatters are predicting a rapid decline in production growth next year, while some Democratic contenders for the White House have called for a ban on fracking.
    — Washington Post, 29 Nov. 2019
  • His father, Paul, was Canadian and earned his millions as an oil wildcatter in Alberta.
    — Ryan O'Halloran, The Denver Post, 14 June 2019
  • Founded by Autry Stevens, a Texas wildcatter who has drilled aggressively in the region for more than five decades, Endeavor has one of the most prized land positions of any oil-and-gas company in the world.
    — Dana Mattioli, WSJ, 23 Oct. 2018
  • But Tennessee is trying to tap into our greatness like a wildcatter drilling into someone else’s oil field.
    — Los Angeles Times, 13 Jan. 2023
  • In classic wildcatter style, Mr. Pickens’s fortunes rose to prodigious heights and then collapsed, only to resume their roller coaster course in later years.
    — Jonathan Kandell, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2019
  • Sgamma pointed to George Mitchell, the wildcatter who pioneered directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the 1990s.
    — Brian Maffly, The Salt Lake Tribune, 21 Dec. 2020
  • The nation's second-largest city vs. the fourth; surfer-dude lifestyle vs. cowboy realness; movie moguls vs. wildcatters; Disneyland vs. Astroworld (er, sorry about that one, Houston).
    — Greg Morago, Houston Chronicle, 24 Oct. 2017
  • Most wildcatters work seven days a week and take time off only during important Buddhist festivals.
    — Photographs and Text By Adam Dean, New York Times, 22 May 2017
  • Today, with the U.S. benchmark price for crude oil entering negative territory for the first time in history, a wildcatter who struck oil couldn’t give it away without paying someone to take it.
    — Justin Worland, Time, 20 Apr. 2020
  • Three years later, the hill and 2 square miles of the surrounding plains incorporated as the city of Signal Hill, a settlement of roughnecks and wildcatters, an oil boomtown during the time when California produced a quarter of the world’s oil.
    — Scott Garner, latimes.com, 22 June 2018
  • Yet amid this Boy Scout good behaviour, the wildcatter spirit remains—all couched in typical industry hyperbole.
    — The Economist, 10 May 2018
  • The billionaire former wildcatter will be inducted in August.
    — Schuyler Dixon, The Denver Post, 27 Feb. 2017
  • The strategy isn’t as risky as staking wildcatters or borrowing heavily to buy entire oil companies, but profits are usually lower.
    — Ryan Dezember, WSJ, 16 July 2017
  • Centuries later, tequila has exploded again, in a gusher that has turned unlikely gringo wildcatters into tequila billionaires.
    — Mark Seal, WSJ, 19 June 2018
  • Carlos Alfredo Brito, 27, had recently begun delivering gasoline to wildcatters along with the Linares brothers.
    — Andrew Rosati, Bloomberg.com, 9 Apr. 2018
  • Goldman lent to natural-gas wildcatter Aubrey McClendon against his wine collection, according to an Oklahoma filing.
    — Liz Hoffman, WSJ, 10 Aug. 2017
  • The Nanushuk’s oil potential was announced several years ago by wildcatter Bill Armstrong, after previous exploration drilling by other companies overlooked it.
    — Alex Demarban, Anchorage Daily News, 17 Aug. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wildcatter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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