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Showing results for radioisotope. Search instead for stable-isotope.

radioisotope

American  
[rey-dee-oh-ahy-suh-tohp] / ˌreɪ di oʊˈaɪ səˌtoʊp /

noun

  1. a radioactive isotope, usually artificially produced: used in physical and biological research, therapeutics, etc.


radioisotope British  
/ ˌreɪdɪəʊˈaɪsətəʊp, ˌreɪdɪəʊˌaɪsəˈtɒpɪk /

noun

  1. an isotope that is radioactive

"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

radioisotope Scientific  
/ rā′dē-ō-īsə-tōp′ /
  1. A radioactive isotope of a chemical element. Carbon 14 and radon 222 are examples of naturally occurring radioactive isotopes.


Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of radioisotope

First recorded in 1940–45; radio- + isotope

Vocabulary lists containing radioisotope

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The new therapy differs from Novartis’s approved Pluvicto prostate-cancer treatment in the radioisotope it uses to kill cancer cells, Vontobel says.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 2, 2026

Voyager 1, like its twin Voyager 2, is powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator that converts heat from decaying plutonium into electricity.

From Science Daily May 4, 2026

Now, the team is building a new kind of fusion reactor, which will be able to produce any kind of radioisotope for research or medicine, right by the hospitals that need it.

From BBC Feb. 26, 2025

The probes use three plutonium dioxide radioisotope thermoelectric generators.

From Salon May 7, 2023

Outsiders might disdain the lab’s focus on radioisotope hunting, but filling in the roster of isotopes throughout the periodic table was important work.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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