atomic age

American  

noun

1. the period in history initiated by the first use of the atomic bomb and characterized by atomic energy as a military, political, and industrial factor.

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atomic age British  

noun

1. the current historical period, initiated by the development of the first atomic bomb towards the end of World War II and now marked by a balance of power between nations possessing the hydrogen bomb and the use of nuclear power as a source of energy

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Etymology

Origin of atomic age

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

The atomic age made it potentially life-ending for humanity.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 24, 2026

“Oppenheimer” was the epic, deadly earnest biopic of the reluctant father of the atomic age.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 13, 2024

For a secular atomic age, writers who met such extraterrestrials placed them in the same role as God: bearing an unimpeachable command that transcended politics and nation and had to be obeyed.

From Slate • Sep. 11, 2023

Hans Bethe, Neils Bohr, J. Robert Oppenheimer and Leo Szilard all contributed to this book and it was the first major publication that said we are in the atomic age.

From Scientific American • Aug. 24, 2023

That was the genesis of what would become one of the seminal documents of the atomic age, Albert Einstein’s message to Franklin Roosevelt, dated August 2, 1939.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik