nuclear — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Pertaining to the nucleus of an atom.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

2. Involving energy released by nuclear reactions (fission, fusion, radioactive decay).

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Examples

   a nuclear reactor

   nuclear technology

3. Relating to a weapon that derives its force from rapid release of energy through nuclear reactions.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Examples

   a nuclear explosion

   a nuclear power

4. Having nuclear weapons.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Examples

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   They will blame him for pursuing the ideological aim of destruction of Israel – something many Iranians don't support. They will blame him for what they perceive as a folly – his belief that achieving nuclear status would render his regime invincible.

5. Involving an extreme course of action, or one with severe consequences.

   Usage

   • broadly
   • Figurative
   • not-comparable
   • of a solution or response

   Examples

   nuclear option, nuclear solution

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   The states begging for aid get turned away; and sharp cuts in government employment, spending, and, eventually, pension payments are the only alternative future, beyond the nuclear solution of defaulting on our debt.

   The nuclear approach is the simpler of the two. When two constraints conflict, you can kill one of them.

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   We’ve now had 20 years of cautionary tales about replyallpocalypses. For the sake of workplace harmony: keep your pointer off the nuclear button.

   Republicans have taken the historic step of triggering the so-called "nuclear option" to change the rules of the Senate and push through Donald Trump's pick for the Supreme Court, after Democrats blocked the nomination.

6. Pertaining to the nucleus of a cell.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Examples

   However, the DNA in a bacterial cell is a single circular molecule and there is no separate nuclear compartment.

7. Pertaining to a centre around which something is developed or organised; central, pivotal.

   Usage

   • Archaic
   • not-comparable

   Examples

   Nuclear Polynesian languages include Hawaiian and Samoan.

8. Relating to, being of, or comprising the nuclear family.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Examples

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   Somehow it is much easier to convey the emotions of gayness — the feelings of outsideness —through anthropomorphism. Gay poet and limerist Edward lear uses animals and creatures perfectly this way […] Even the Muppets — as mainstream and heterosexual as some of them may be — are favorites among many gay men […] Look at Mr. Toad in The Wind in the Willows, such a silly, pompous queen, and even Randall Jarrell's The Animal Family has a lot to say about non-human and non-nuclear arrangements.

Noun

1. Nuclear power.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   The growth in wind capacity at first lagged behind the expansion of nuclear installations, but then it started to grow faster and is now outpacing nuclear.

2. Nuclear weapon

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

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   Admiral Burke believed that we would be able to beat off an amphibious attack, even if staged in conjunction with heavy aerial bombing, long enough to refer back to Washington and obtain authorization to use nuclears.

Adjective

1. (weapons) deriving destructive energy from the release of atomic energy

   Synonyms

   atomic

   Antonyms

   conventional

   Examples

   nuclear war

   nuclear weapons

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   atomic bombs

2. of or relating to or constituting the nucleus of an atom

   Examples

   nuclear physics

   nuclear fission

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   nuclear forces

3. of or relating to or constituting the nucleus of a cell

   Examples

   nuclear membrane

   nuclear division

4. constituting or like a nucleus

   Examples

   annexation of the suburban fringe by the nuclear metropolis

   the nuclear core of the congregation