fallout shelter

American  

[fawl-aut shel-ter] / ˈfɔlˌaʊt ˈʃɛl tər /

noun

plural

fallout shelters

1. an area, usually underground, built for protection from a nuclear detonation and from the radioactive dust that would follow.

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Example Sentences

Intimations of imminent war were routinely made, with one host asking viewers to secure a "fallout shelter."

From Salon • Dec. 30, 2024

Our basement bunker was actually a combination bomb shelter and fallout shelter, to protect us from both the explosion and the subsequent radiation.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 25, 2022

Another dubious idea, spread by the government and others, was that ordinary Americans could survive a thermonuclear attack by ducking, covering or building a fallout shelter.

From New York Times • Nov. 5, 2021

“Brewster McCloud” A salute to Robert Altman continues with the filmmaker’s darkly comic 1970 fable featuring Bud Cort as a young loner living in a fallout shelter beneath the Houston Astrodome.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 13, 2021

Black-and-yellow triangular fallout shelter signs proliferated in public spaces, pointing the way to underground refuge from radiation.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly