China syndrome (English, noun)
expansion: China syndrome (countable and uncountable, plural China syndromes)
Senses:
qualifier: nuclear physics
glosses: A hypothetical kind of catastrophic failure in which a nuclear reactor melts through the floor of its containment system and (if on land) penetrates the Earth's surface, continuing downward as if (from a Western Hemispheric point of view) traveling through the planet toward China.
tags: idiomatic
uncountable
qualifier: nuclear physics
glosses: A specific instance of this type of failure.
tags: countable
idiomatic
qualifier: sometimes fanciful
glosses: A behavior, policy, or situation characteristic of or involving China; an actual or potential catastrophe, especially one involving China.
tags: countable
idiomatic
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: A rare disease, first characterized in the early 1990s, which resembles polio but which has somewhat different characteristics and occurs in persons vaccinated for polio.
tags: countable
uncountable
Forms:
form: China syndromes
tags: plural
form: China Syndrome
tags: alternative