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

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

It had already been quite a year: the doomed Challenger space shuttle had exploded months earlier, and the disaster at Chernobyl was on everyone’s minds.

From Slate • Feb. 2, 2026

The site of Ukraine's defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant briefly lost off-site power in the shutdown, the UN atomic energy watchdog said.

From Barron's • Jan. 31, 2026

Ukrainian officials, though, say Russia is dangerously neglecting the site and say a repeat of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is a real threat.

From BBC • Jan. 23, 2026

Twenty-five years earlier, another reactor had melted down near Chernobyl, Ukraine.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland