nuclear
English
editEtymology
editFrom 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, nucle(us) + -ar = nucle- + -ar. Compare muscle and Latin mūsculus; muscular and mūsculāris.
Pronunciation
edit- (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
editnuclear (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
- (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 February 3, Elle Hunt, “When is it appropriate to reply all? Mostly never”, in The Guardian[1]:
- We’ve now had 20 years of cautionary tales about replyallpocalypses. For the sake of workplace harmony: keep your pointer off the nuclear button.
- 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
edit- 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
edit- 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 cataract
- nuclear certifiable
- nuclear certified
- nuclear chain reaction
- nuclear charge
- nuclear chemistry
- nuclear code
- nuclear cytoplasm
- nuclear data
- nuclear decay
- nuclear democracy
- 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 summer
- nuclear technology
- nuclear terrorism
- nuclear testing
- nuclear-thermal rocket
- nuclear-thermoelectric rocket
- nuclear transfer
- nuclear triad
- 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
editTranslations
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Further reading
editNoun
editnuclear (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
editCatalan
editPronunciation
editAdjective
editnuclear m or f (masculine and feminine plural nuclears)
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
edit- “nuclear” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “nuclear”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
- “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.
Galician
editPronunciation
editAdjective
editnuclear m or f (plural nucleares)
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
edit- “nuclear”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, since 2012
Occitan
editPronunciation
editAudio: (file)
Adjective
editnuclear m (feminine singular nucleara, masculine plural nuclears, feminine plural nuclearas)
Piedmontese
editPronunciation
editAdjective
editnuclear
Portuguese
editPronunciation
edit
- Hyphenation: nu‧cle‧ar
Adjective
editnuclear 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
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
edit- “nuclear”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024
Romanian
editEtymology
editBorrowed from French nucléaire. By surface analysis, nucleu + -ar.
Adjective
editnuclear m or n (feminine singular nucleară, masculine plural nucleari, feminine and neuter plural nucleare)
Declension
editsingular | plural | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | ||
nominative/ accusative |
indefinite | nuclear | nucleară | nucleari | nucleare | ||
definite | nuclearul | nucleara | nuclearii | nuclearele | |||
genitive/ dative |
indefinite | nuclear | nucleare | nucleari | nucleare | ||
definite | nuclearului | nuclearei | nuclearilor | nuclearelor |
Spanish
editPronunciation
editEtymology 1
editFrom nucleo + -ar, ultimately from Latin nuculeus.
Adjective
editnuclear m or f (masculine and feminine plural nucleares)
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editEtymology 2
editVerb
editnuclear (first-person singular present nucleo, first-person singular preterite nucleé, past participle nucleado)
Conjugation
editThese forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.
Derived terms
editFurther reading
edit- “nuclear”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
- 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
edit- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms suffixed with -ar
- English terms prefixed with nucleo-
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English 2-syllable words
- Rhymes:English/uːkliə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/uːklɪə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/uːkjələ(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/uːkjələ(ɹ)/3 syllables
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Biology
- English terms with archaic senses
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Nuclear energy
- en:Nuclear physics
- en:Nuclear warfare
- en:Radioactivity
- Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan adjectives
- Catalan epicene adjectives
- Galician terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Galician/aɾ
- Rhymes:Galician/aɾ/3 syllables
- Galician lemmas
- Galician adjectives
- Occitan terms with audio links
- Occitan lemmas
- Occitan adjectives
- Piedmontese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Piedmontese lemmas
- Piedmontese adjectives
- Portuguese 3-syllable words
- Portuguese 2-syllable words
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese 4-syllable words
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese adjectives
- pt:Biology
- pt:Physics
- Romanian terms borrowed from French
- Romanian terms derived from French
- Romanian terms suffixed with -ar
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian adjectives
- ro:Nuclear warfare
- Spanish 3-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/aɾ
- Rhymes:Spanish/aɾ/3 syllables
- Spanish terms suffixed with -ar
- Spanish terms derived from Latin
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish adjectives
- Spanish epicene adjectives
- Spanish verbs
- Spanish verbs ending in -ar
- es:Nuclear warfare