nuclear
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: n(y)o͞okliər
ipa: /ˈn(j)u.kli.ɚ/
note: r
enpr: nyo͞oklî
ipa: /ˈnjuː.klɪə(ɹ)/
enpr: n(y)o͞okliər
enpr: n(y)o͞okyələr
ipa: /ˈn(j)u.kli.ɚ/
ipa: /ˈn(j)u.kjə.lɚ/
rhymes: -uːkliə(ɹ)
rhymes: -uːklɪə(ɹ)
rhymes: -uːkjələ(ɹ)
Etymology: From Latin nū̆cleus, a contraction of the adjective nuculeus, masculine of feminine nuculea (“pertaining to a small nut”) from nucula + adjectival suffix -eus, -ea, -eum. The Latin nucula + -āris adds up to nuculāris, a term that in English becomes nucular; the Latin nuculea + -āris, becomes Latin nuculeāris (“relative to what pertains to small nut”), later contracted into nuclear. By surface analysis, nucleus + -ar. Compare muscle and Latin mūsculus; muscular and mūsculāris.
Senses: glosses: Pertaining to the nucleus of an atom.
examples: text: a nuclear reactor
text: nuclear technology
glosses: Involving energy released by nuclear reactions (fission, fusion, radioactive decay).
examples: text: a nuclear explosion
text: a nuclear power
glosses: Relating to a weapon that derives its force from rapid release of energy through nuclear reactions.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2025 June 26, Kasra Naji, “When Iran's supreme leader emerges from hiding he will find a very different nation”, in BBC:
glosses: Having nuclear weapons.
examples: text: nuclear option, nuclear solution
text: 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.
ref: 2011, Todd Lipscomb, Re-Made in the USA, →ISBN:
text: The nuclear approach is the simpler of the two. When two constraints conflict, you can kill one of them.
ref: 2013, Erica Sadun, iOS Auto Layout Demystified, →ISBN, page 150:
text: We’ve now had 20 years of cautionary tales about replyallpocalypses. For the sake of workplace harmony: keep your pointer off the nuclear button.
ref: 2017 February 3, Elle Hunt, “When is it appropriate to reply all? Mostly never”, in The Guardian:
text: 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.
ref: 2017 April 6, Mythili Sampathkumar, “Democrats filibuster forces Republicans to use 'nuclear option to confirm Trump's Supreme Court pick”, in The Independent:
glosses: Involving an extreme course of action, or one with severe consequences.
raw_tags: of a solution or response
examples: text: However, the DNA in a bacterial cell is a single circular molecule and there is no separate nuclear compartment.
ref: 2011, Terence Allen, Graham Cowling, The Cell: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 17:
topics: biology
natural-sciences
glosses: Pertaining to the nucleus of a cell.
examples: text: Nuclear Polynesian languages include Hawaiian and Samoan.
glosses: Pertaining to a centre around which something is developed or organised; central, pivotal.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1986 December 7, Michael Bronsky, “Gay Man's Dream Realized in Benefit Production of archy and mehitabel"”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 21, page 7:
glosses: Relating to, being of, or comprising the nuclear family.
Derived terms: anti-nuclear antibody
anti-nuclear factor
anuclear
astronuclear
binuclear
bionuclear
burning nuclear plasma
centronuclear
circumnuclear
corticonuclear
cytonuclear
dinuclear
effective nuclear charge
electronuclear
endonuclear
extranuclear
geonuclear
go nuclear
hadronuclear
heptanuclear
heteronuclear
hexanuclear
homonuclear
hypernuclear
infranuclear
internuclear
intranuclear
isonuclear
juxtanuclear
macronuclear
micronuclear
mitonuclear
mononuclear
morphonuclear
multinuclear
myonuclear
neuronuclear
nonnuclear
nuclear age
nuclear airburst
nuclear aircraft
nuclear-armed
nuclear artillery
nuclear autumn
nuclear battery
nuclear binding energy
nuclear body
nuclear bomb
nuclear button
nuclear cataract
nuclear certifiable
nuclear certified
nuclear chain reaction
nuclear charge
nuclear chemistry
nuclear code
nuclear cytoplasm
nuclear data
nuclear decay
nuclear democracy
nuclear deterrence
nuclear deterrent
nuclear disintegration
nuclear electric rocket
nuclear-electric rocket
nuclear emulsion
nuclear energy
nuclear envelope
nuclear explosion
nuclear fallout
nuclear family
nuclear famine
nuclear fission
nuclear force
nuclear forensics
nuclear fratricide
nuclear-free
nuclear-free zone
nuclear fuel
nuclear fusion
nuclear gene
nuclear halo
nuclear hardness
nuclear hazard
nuclear hydrogen detection meter
nuclear incident
nuclear inclusion body
nuclear intelligence
nuclearisation
nuclearise
nuclearism
nuclear isomer
nuclearist
nuclearite
nuclearity
nuclearize
nuclear lamina
nuclearly
nuclear magnetic moment
nuclear magnetic pulse
nuclear magnetic resonance
nuclear magneton
nuclear material
nuclear matrix
nuclear medicine
nuclear meltdown
nuclear membrane
nuclear nation
nuclear navy
nuclear notation
nuclear operator
nuclear ophthalmoplegia
nuclear option
nuclear Overhauser effect
nuclear parity
nuclear pasta
nuclear photonic rocket
nuclear physicist
nuclear physics
nuclear pile
nuclear plasma
nuclear poison
nuclear pore complex
nuclear power
nuclear power plant
nuclear power station
nuclear pulse propulsion
nuclear-pulse rocket
nuclear quadropole resonance
nuclear quadrupole resonance
nuclear radiation
nuclear reaction
nuclear reactor
nuclear response function
nuclear rocket
nuclear sclerosis
nuclear sharing
nuclear spectrum
nuclear submarine
nuclear summer
nuclear technology
nuclear terrorism
nuclear test
nuclear testing
nuclear-thermal rocket
nuclear-thermoelectric rocket
nuclear transfer
nuclear triad
nuclear umbrella
nuclear underground burst
nuclear underwater burst
nuclear vulnerability assessment
nuclear war
nuclear warfare
nuclear waste
nuclear weapon
nuclear winter
nuclear yield
nuplex
oligonuclear
paranuclear
pentanuclear
perinuclear
photonuclear
piezonuclear
polymorphonuclear
polynuclear
postnuclear
prenuclear
pronuclear
pro-nuclear
pycnonuclear
radionuclear
ribonuclear
small nuclear ribonucleoprotein
somatic cell nuclear transfer
strong nuclear
strong nuclear force
strong nuclear interaction
subnuclear
supranuclear
tetranuclear
thermonuclear
trinuclear
uninuclear
weak nuclear
weak nuclear force
weak nuclear interaction
Related terms: nuclei
nucleo-
nucleus