atomic bomb
a bomb whose potency is derived from nuclear fission of atoms of fissionable material with the consequent conversion of part of their mass into energy.
a bomb whose explosive force comes from a chain reaction based on nuclear fission in U-235 or plutonium.
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Origin of atomic bomb
1- Also called fis·sion bomb [fish-uhn bom] /ˈfɪʃ ən ˌbɒm/ .
- Also at·om bomb [at-uhm bom], /ˈæt əm ˌbɒm/, A-bomb [ey-bom] /ˈeɪˌbɒm/ .
- Compare hydrogen bomb.
Words Nearby atomic bomb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use atomic bomb in a sentence
Then the Americans, successful in their mission, created — and dropped — a workable atomic bomb.
Insights into the Nazis’ failed nuclear program may lie within this 2-inch-tall uranium cube | Caroline Anders | August 25, 2021 | Washington PostIt says more or less that we are standing before a tree that suffered an atomic bomb attack.
Nuclear energy, a spinoff from the pursuit of the atomic bomb, was sold to the world by US President Dwight Eisenhower as “atoms for peace.”
The dangerous appeal of technology-driven futures | Sheila Jasanoff | June 30, 2021 | MIT Technology ReviewApparently the physics is similar to the development of the cloud in an atomic bomb, although the source of the "explosion" is very different.
Physicists show that flying beer coasters will flip 0.45 seconds into flight | Jennifer Ouellette | June 23, 2021 | Ars TechnicaIn the aftermath of the first test of an atomic bomb, in July 1945, all this debris fused together, leaving the ground of the New Mexico test site coated with a glassy substance now called trinitite.
A newfound quasicrystal formed in the first atomic bomb test | Emily Conover | May 17, 2021 | Science News
Although in that film, the briefcase contained an atomic bomb.
The Secrets of ‘Pulp Fiction’: 20 Things You Didn’t Know About the Movie on Its 20th Anniversary | Marlow Stern | October 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“A person like Superman basically carries around a personal atomic bomb and he hides among us,” he says.
The CIA Spook Turned Comic Book Scribe: Robin Grabs a Gun in ‘Grayson’ | Rich Goldstein | June 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“Zohydro is an atomic bomb in a pill,” Sherrie Rubin from the FED Up!
Zohydro, a New Pill 10 Times Stronger Than Vicodin, Raises Questions About Pain and Addiction | Rachel Bronstein | April 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTFinally there was the atomic bomb (and the Cold War it created): machine threatened to annihilate all of mankind.
Fat Boy, like the atomic bomb, is both a miracle of human ingenuity and a force of annihilation.
American Dreams: ‘The Mosquito Coast’ by Paul Theroux | Nathaniel Rich | September 20, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTThat was a Government town, a hundred miles southwest of here, where they made some of the stuff to put in atomic bomb.
Thy Rocks and Rills | Robert Ernest GilbertLook, you know how an atomic pile works—essentially just like an atomic bomb.
The K-Factor | Harry Harrison (AKA Henry Maxwell Dempsey)This goes on faster and faster and bam, a few milliseconds later you have an atomic bomb.
The K-Factor | Harry Harrison (AKA Henry Maxwell Dempsey)His faith in that Power was as certain as the modern faith in the power of the atomic bomb.
Despoilers of the Golden Empire | Gordon Randall GarrettIt drew up fifty miles, pointed its tail and blasted forth a rocket-driven, tactical atomic bomb.
The Secret of the Ninth Planet | Donald Allen Wollheim
British Dictionary definitions for atomic bomb
a type of bomb in which the energy is provided by nuclear fission. Uranium-235 and plutonium-239 are the isotopes most commonly used in atomic bombs: Also called: A-bomb, fission bomb Compare fusion bomb
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
Scientific definitions for atomic bomb
A very destructive bomb that derives its explosive power from the fission of atomic nuclei. Atomic bombs usually have plutonium 239 or uranium 235 as their fissionable material. Also called atom bomb
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for atomic bomb (1 of 2)
A nuclear weapon whose enormous explosive power results from the sudden release of energy from a fission reaction. (See also Hiroshima (see also Hiroshima), hydrogen bomb, Nagasaki, and Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT].)
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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