fallout
or fall-out
[fawl-out]
- the settling to the ground of airborne particles ejected into the atmosphere from the earth by explosions, eruptions, forest fires, etc., especially such settling from nuclear explosions (radioactive fallout).Compare rainout.
- the particles themselves.Compare rainout.
- an unexpected or incidental effect, outcome, or product: the psychological fallout of being obese.
- effects; results: emotional fallout from a divorce.
Origin of fallout
First recorded in 1945–50; noun use of verb phrase fall out
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fallout
Contemporary Examples
But the fallout from the Panetta book will be significant over time.
The fallout of this loss of trust has had an enormous impact on the outbreak.
More recently, the fallout from the Arab Spring across the region has given the two powers many more sandboxes in which to play.
“Matt was genuinely hurt by all the Ann Curry fallout,” says the network news insider.
Conservative evangelicalism is losing millennials in gobs, and the World Vision fallout is sure to only accelerate the fallout.
Historical Examples
People dying of disease and worried about dying from radiation and fallout.
This Crowded EarthRobert Bloch
After Test Mike, the implications of fallout obviously were global.
Atoms, Nature, and ManNeal O. Hines
And the fallout from so many atom bombs simply could not be risked.
Operation TerrorWilliam Fitzgerald Jenkins
In some places, a boat would provide some fallout protection.
In Time Of EmergencyDepartment of Defense
Remember that fallout particles can be seen, but the rays they give off cannot be seen.
In Time Of EmergencyDepartment of Defense
fallout
- the descent of solid material in the atmosphere onto the earth, esp of radioactive material following a nuclear explosion
- any solid particles that so descend
- informal side-effects; secondary consequences
- informal to quarrel or disagree
- (intr) to happen or occur
- military to leave a parade or disciplinary formation
- military the order to leave a parade or disciplinary formation
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for fallout
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper