thermonuclear

[thur-moh-noo-klee-er, -nyoo-, -kyuh-ler]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or involving a thermonuclear reaction.

   thermonuclear power.

thermonuclear

/ ˌθɜːməʊˈnjuːklɪə /

adjective

1. involving nuclear fusion

   a thermonuclear reaction

   thermonuclear energy

2. involving thermonuclear weapons

   a thermonuclear war

thermonuclear

1. Relating to the fusion of atomic nuclei at high temperatures or to the energy produced in this way.

2. Relating to weapons based on nuclear fusion, especially as distinguished from those based on nuclear fission.

thermonuclear

1. A term referring to devices that use nuclear fusion, the fusion of atomic nuclei, to produce energy at very high temperatures. (See hydrogen bomb.)

Pronunciation Note

See nuclear.

Word History and Origins

Origin of thermonuclear¹

First recorded in 1935–40; thermo- + nuclear

Example Sentences

But China is not one of them, prohibited by Congress during the Obama era from cooperating with the United States in space after attempting to steal U.S. technology on intercontinental ballistic missiles and thermonuclear weapons.

From Los Angeles Times

Worse yet, today’s arsenals contain thousands of thermonuclear weapons, some of them up to 1,000 times more powerful than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

From Salon

During his Nobel Peace Prize speech, Martin Luther King Jr. declared: “I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction.”

From Salon

Sure enough, when director Christopher Nolan asked him to emulate the sound of the world’s first thermonuclear device for “Oppenheimer,” King had his epic-scaled 2013 Chelyabinsk asteroid reference close at hand.

From Los Angeles Times

One big challenge: Jackson needed to construct physical visualizations of subatomic activity leading up to the world’s first thermonuclear bomb explosion.

From Los Angeles Times