Tar vs. Bitumen — What's the Difference?

Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat.Mineral products resembling tar can be produced from fossil hydrocarbons, such as petroleum.

Any of various flammable mixtures of relatively nonvolatile hydrocarbons that occur naturally or are obtained by fractional distillation of petroleum. Bitumens are used for paving, roofing, and waterproofing. Also called asphalt.

A dark, thick flammable liquid distilled from wood or coal, consisting of a mixture of hydrocarbons, resins, alcohols, and other compounds. It is used in road-making and for coating and preserving timber.

A sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum, burning with a bright flame. It occurs as an abundant natural product in many places, as on the shores of the Dead and Caspian Seas. It is used in cements, in the construction of pavements, etc.; Mineral pitch.

A sailor.

(by extension) Any one of the natural hydrocarbons, including the hard, solid, brittle varieties called asphalt, the semisolid maltha and mineral tars, the oily petrolea, and even the light, volatile naphthas.

Cover (something) with tar

Roads sealed with bitumen, as opposed to dirt roads.

A dark, oily, viscous material, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons, produced by the destructive distillation of organic substances such as wood, coal, or peat.

(Canada) Canadian deposits of extremely heavy crude oil.

See coal tar.

To cover or fill with bitumen.

A solid residue of tobacco smoke containing byproducts of combustion.

Mineral pitch; a black, tarry substance, burning with a bright flame; Jew's pitch. It occurs as an abundant natural product in many places, as on the shores of the Dead and Caspian Seas. It is used in cements, in the construction of pavements, etc. See Asphalt.

A sailor.

By extension, any one of the natural hydrocarbons, including the hard, solid, brittle varieties called asphalt, the semisolid maltha and mineral tars, the oily petroleums, and even the light, volatile naphthas.

To coat with or as if with tar.

Any of various naturally occurring impure mixtures of hydrocarbons

A black, oily, sticky, viscous substance, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons derived from organic materials such as wood, peat, or coal.

Coal tar.

(uncountable) A solid residual byproduct of tobacco smoke.

A sailor, because of the traditional tarpaulin clothes.

(uncountable) Black tar, a form of heroin.

(computing) A program for archiving files, common on Unix systems.

(computing) A file produced by such a program.

A Persian long-necked, waisted string instrument, shared by many cultures and countries in the Middle East and the Caucasus.

A single-headed round frame drum originating in North Africa and the Middle East.

(transitive) To coat with tar.

(transitive) To besmirch.

To create a tar archive.

A sailor; a seaman.

A thick, black, viscous liquid obtained by the distillation of wood, coal, etc., and having a varied composition according to the temperature and material employed in obtaining it.

To smear with tar, or as with tar; as, to tar ropes; to tar cloth.

Any of various dark heavy viscid substances obtained as a residue

A man who serves as a sailor

Coat with tar;