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

Inside an abandoned control room at Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a worker in an orange hardhat gazed at a grey wall of seemingly endless dials, screens and gauges that were supposed to prevent disaster.

From Barron's

Prof Smith from the University of Portsmouth in the UK, who has studied the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, said the biggest danger linked to the site was disturbing radioactive dust.

From BBC

By 2019 as the developmental process for the concept art was moving along, the Duffer Brothers approached Gower, whose work on “Game of Thrones” and “Chernobyl” they admired.

From Los Angeles Times

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

From Literature

It's dated April 1986 – the month of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

From BBC