Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Biology Of, relating to, or forming a nucleus of a cell.
  • adjective Of or relating to atomic nuclei.
  • adjective Using or derived from the energy of atomic nuclei.
  • adjective Of, using, or possessing atomic or hydrogen bombs.
  • adjective Drastic or extreme; radical.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to a nucleus; having the character of a nucleus; constituted by or constituting a nucleus; endoplastic.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective of, pertaining to, or using nuclear weapons.
  • adjective Of, pertaining to, or powered by atomic energy; same as nuclear-powered.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to nations possessing nuclear weapons.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to or constituting the nucleus of a cell
  • adjective constituting or like a nucleus
  • adjective (weapons) deriving destructive energy from the release of atomic energy
  • adjective of or relating to or constituting the nucleus of an atom

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From nucleus.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From nucleus +‎ -ar.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word nuclear.

Examples

  • VIEW FAVORITES yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = 'Tehran repudiates Sarkozy’s claims'; yahooBuzzArticleSummary = 'Tehran reacted strongly to claims by the French president about the nature of Iran’s nuclear activities, insisting that “nuclear weapon has no place in Iran’s defense doctrine.

    OpEdNews - Quicklink: Tehran repudiates Sarkozy��s claims 2008

  • VIEW FAVORITES yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = 'Iran cites Israeli nuclear activity as example of world\'s hypocrisy'; yahooBuzzArticleSummary = 'Tehran says stringent IAEA inspections are unfair as Israel not partner to non-proliferation treaty, and claims western countries practice \'nuclear apartheid\'.

    OpEdNews - Quicklink: Iran cites Israeli nuclear activity as example of world's hypocrisy 2008

  • Tehran reacted strongly to claims by the French president about the nature of Iran’s nuclear activities, insisting that “nuclear weapon has no place in Iran’s defense doctrine.

    OpEdNews - Quicklink: Tehran repudiates Sarkozy��s claims 2008

  • ·undertaking nuclear hazard / fault identification studies (HAZOP / FMEA) ·nuclear qualitative and nuclear quantitative hazard assessments

    HEADLINES 2009

  • While the global cooling caused by superpower-on-superpower war could be catastrophic hence the term "nuclear winter" a small scale war could have an impact on the world climate, says National Geographic.

    Could A Small Nuclear War Reverse Global Warming? 2011

  • NBA Commissioner David Stern used the term "nuclear winter" to describe a decision that could produce a protracted court battle and cost the sport and its fans, arena workers and nearby restaurant staffs the entire season and perhaps beyond.

    StarTribune.com rss feed 2011

  • Sorry, Mr. President, but there is a dimension of fear properly associated with the word nuclear that is not matched by any oil spill.

    Robert Scheer: No Nukes Is Good Nukes Robert Scheer 2011

  • Sorry, Mr. President, but there is a dimension of fear properly associated with the word nuclear that is not matched by any oil spill.

    Robert Scheer: No Nukes Is Good Nukes Robert Scheer 2011

  • Sorry, Mr. President, but there is a dimension of fear properly associated with the word nuclear that is not matched by any oil spill.

    Robert Scheer: No Nukes Is Good Nukes Robert Scheer 2011

  • "When you work the word Iran into a sentence, you also have to work the word nuclear into a sentence and that's when this becomes a potentially more significant and more serious issue."

    Middle East Tension Lurks as Bull-Market Foil Chris Dieterich 2011

  • Perhaps you've seen the long-term nuclear waste warnings, which researchers developed in the 1980s, creating the field of nuclear semiotics.

    Stones, Clocks, and What We Should Actually Leave Behind Condé Nast 2020

  • Physicists have demonstrated all the ingredients of a nuclear clock — a device that keeps time by measuring tiny energy shifts inside an atomic nucleus.

    ‘Nuclear clock’ breakthrough paves the way for super-precise timekeeping Elizabeth Gibney 2024

Comments

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  • Dear George, there is only one 'u' in nuclear. Adding more does not endear "u" to me. That is all I have to say about that.

    December 8, 2006

  • Don't say NOO-kyuh-lur (as "uselessness" did), as if the word were spelled "nucular." This variant has long been "a much-derided aberration" (Richard Lederer), and current dictionaries, which rarely stigmatize pronunciations, call it "unacceptable" and "incorrect." Take care to say "nuclear" like "new" + "clear": N(Y)OO-klee-ur. -- The Orthoepist

    June 7, 2010

  • u - *snort*

    June 7, 2010

  • WHAT'S HAPPENING????

    I did not write the comment

    bil​by said:

    I prefer "noo-koo-lur".

    NOR ANY OF THE OTHER HALF A DOZEN BILBY SAID COMMENTS CURRENTLY ON ZEITGEIST.

    June 7, 2010

  • Tell it to the judge, bilby.

    June 7, 2010

  • Very sorry -- just sent you an email. Looking into it right now.

    June 7, 2010

  • BPD?

    ;-)

    June 7, 2010