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nuclear
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English
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.
Pronunciation
- (Canada) enPR: n(y)o͞okliər, IPA(key): /ˈn(j)u.kli.ɚ/
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: nyo͞oklî(r), IPA(key): /ˈnjuː.klɪə(ɹ)/
- (US) enPR: n(y)o͞okliər, n(y)o͞okyələr, IPA(key): /ˈn(j)u.kli.ɚ/
- (proscribed) IPA(key): /ˈn(j)u.kjə.lɚ/ (see usage notes)
Audio (US): (file)
- Rhymes: -uːkliə(ɹ), -uːklɪə(ɹ), -uːkjələ(ɹ)
Adjective
nuclear (not comparable)
- Pertaining to the nucleus of an atom. [from 20th c.]
- Involving energy released by nuclear reactions (fission, fusion, radioactive decay). [from 20th c.]
- a nuclear reactor
- nuclear technology
- Relating to a weapon that derives its force from rapid release of energy through nuclear reactions. [from 20th c.]
- a nuclear explosion
- Having nuclear weapons.
- 2025 June 26, Kasra Naji, “When Iran's supreme leader emerges from hiding he will find a very different nation”, in BBC:
- 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.
- (by extension, figurative, of a solution or response) Involving an extreme course of action, or one with severe consequences.
- nuclear option, nuclear solution
- 2011, Todd Lipscomb, Re-Made in the USA, →ISBN:
- 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.
- 2013, Erica Sadun, iOS Auto Layout Demystified, →ISBN, page 150:
- The nuclear approach is the simpler of the two. When two constraints conflict, you can kill one of them.
- 2017 April 6, Mythili Sampathkumar, “Democrats filibuster forces Republicans to use 'nuclear option to confirm Trump's Supreme Court pick”, in The Independent:
- 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.
- (biology) Pertaining to the nucleus of a cell. [from 19th c.]
- 2011, Terence Allen, Graham Cowling, The Cell: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 17:
- However, the DNA in a bacterial cell is a single circular molecule and there is no separate nuclear compartment.
- (archaic) Pertaining to a centre around which something is developed or organised; central, pivotal. [from 19th c.]
- Nuclear Polynesian languages include Hawaiian and Samoan.
- Relating to, being of, or comprising the nuclear family.
- 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:
- 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.
Usage notes
- The pronunciation /nukjəlɚ/, although included by some sources such as Merriam-Webster (Online 10th Edition), is nonstandard and listed as such. See also nucular, and nucular in Wikipedia.
Derived terms
- anti-nuclear antibody
- anti-nuclear factor
- anuclear
- astronuclear
- binuclear
- 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
- 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
- pro-nuclear
- pronuclear
- 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
Translations
pertaining to the nucleus of a cell
|
pertaining to a centre; central, pivotal
|
pertaining to the atomic nucleus
|
involving nuclear energy
|
of a weapon: deriving its force from nuclear energy
|
Further reading
Noun
nuclear (countable and uncountable, plural nuclears)
- Nuclear power.
- 2015, Vital Signs Volume 22: The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future, The Worldwatch Institute:
- 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.
- Nuclear weapon
- 1958, Foreign Relations of the United States (page 118):
- 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.
Anagrams
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Catalan
Pronunciation
Adjective
nuclear m or f (masculine and feminine plural nuclears)
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “nuclear”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
- “nuclear”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
- “nuclear” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “nuclear” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
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Galician
Pronunciation
Adjective
nuclear m or f (plural nucleares)
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “nuclear”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025
Occitan
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Adjective
nuclear m (feminine singular nucleara, masculine plural nuclears, feminine plural nuclearas)
Piedmontese
Pronunciation
Adjective
nuclear
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /nu.kleˈaʁ/ [nu.kleˈah], /nu.kliˈaʁ/ [nu.klɪˈah], (faster pronunciation) /nuˈkljaʁ/ [nuˈkljah]
- (São Paulo) IPA(key): /nu.kleˈaɾ/, /nu.kliˈaɾ/ [nu.klɪˈaɾ], (faster pronunciation) /nuˈkljaɾ/
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA(key): /nu.kleˈaʁ/ [nu.kleˈaχ], /nu.kliˈaʁ/ [nu.klɪˈaχ], (faster pronunciation) /nuˈkljaʁ/ [nuˈkljaχ]
- (Porto Alegre) IPA(key): /nu.kleˈaɻ/
- Hyphenation: nu‧cle‧ar
Adjective
nuclear m or f (plural nucleares)
- nuclear; central (to a centre around which something is developed or organised)
- (biology) nuclear (relating to the nucleus of cells)
- (physics) nuclear (relating to the nucleus of atoms)
- nuclear (involving atomic energy or weapons)
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “nuclear”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
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Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from French nucléaire. By surface analysis, nucleu + -ar.
Adjective
nuclear m or n (feminine singular nucleară, masculine plural nucleari, feminine and neuter plural nucleare)
Declension
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Spanish
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From nucleo + -ar, ultimately from Latin nuculeus.
Adjective
nuclear m or f (masculine and feminine plural nucleares)
Derived terms
Related terms
Etymology 2
Verb
nuclear (first-person singular present nucleo, first-person singular preterite nucleé, past participle nucleado)
Conjugation
These forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.
Derived terms
Further reading
- “nuclear”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024
- Roberts, Edward A. (2014), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN
Anagrams
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