fissile
[fis-uh l]
- capable of being split or divided; cleavable.
- Physics.
- fissionable.
- (of a nuclide) capable of undergoing fission induced by low-energy neutrons, as uranium 233 and 235.
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Origin of fissile
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fissile
Contemporary Examples
North Korea claims to have converted the fissile material into nuclear weapons.
Historical Examples
It appears to us from its use to have been either a quartzite or a fissile limestone.
De Re MetallicaGeorgius Agricola
This mineral is fissile, and moderately hard, which renders it fit for their peculiar ripe sculptures.
A fissile texture is occasionally assumed by clinkstone and other trap rocks, so that they have been used for roofing houses.
A Manual of Elementary GeologyCharles Lyell.
Fissile, fis′il, adj. that may be cleft or split in the direction of the grain.
Mould, the earth of vegetables, is hardened into fissile slate, which being impregnated with bitumen becomes coal.
Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to LinnusWilliam MacGillivray
fissile
- British capable of undergoing nuclear fission as a result of the impact of slow neutrons
- US and Canadian another word for fissionable
- tending to split or capable of being split
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Word Origin
C17: from Latin fissilis, from fissus split; see fissi-
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for fissile
adj.
1660s, from Latin fissilis "that which may be cleft or split," from fissus, past participle of findere (see fissure).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper