Chernobyl

American  

[chur-noh-buhl, chyir-naw-bil] / tʃɜrˈnoʊ bəl, tʃyɪrˈnɔ bɪl /

noun

1. a city in northern Ukraine, 80 miles (129 km) northwest of Kyiv: nuclear-plant accident 1986.

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Chernobyl British  

/ -ˈnɒbəl, tʃɜːˈnəʊbəl /

noun

1. a town in N Ukraine; site of a nuclear power station accident in 1986

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Chernobyl Cultural  

1. A place in Ukraine where a nuclear power plant — a generator powered by a nuclear reactor — underwent a meltdown in 1986. A cloud of radioactive gases spread throughout the region of Chernobyl and to foreign countries as well. Forty thousand people living nearby were evacuated. Dozens of deaths and hundreds of illnesses were reported to have been caused by the accident. (Compare Three Mile Island (see also Three Mile Island).)

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Compare meaning

How does chernobyl compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Chernobyl vs. Three Mile Island

Example Sentences

Their apparent beef, which has been speculated about by very online people and, weirdly, business reporters, is now “Weekend Update” fodder, with the women comparing their fight to a “literal Chernobyl for white women.”

From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 2026

Nikolay Solovyov was on shift the night of April 26, 1986 when the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded.

From Barron's • Apr. 25, 2026

Reactor number four at the Chernobyl power plant – in what is now northern Ukraine - had exploded, spewing out radioactive material that would spread across swathes of Europe.

From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026

There’s a scene from the Salomon Brothers trading floor in “Liar’s Poker” when author Michael Lewis’s phone rang minutes after news broke of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026

A little moistness in her eyes the only sign of the Chernobyl in her lungs.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides