nuclear option

British

noun

the use of or power to use nuclear weapons
the use of or power to use a measure considered to be particularly drastic

the nuclear option of a confidence vote

"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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

There’s also the nuclear option: Ditch the cloud and back up your data to a local drive.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 22, 2026

“This weapon is kind of the nuclear option because its consequences are so severe,” he says.

From Barron's • Oct. 11, 2025

There’s the nuclear option: the singles table in the restaurant.

From Salon • Jul. 4, 2025

With political challenges pushing his back against the wall, Yoon went for the nuclear option - a move that few, if any, could have predicted.

From BBC • Dec. 4, 2024

Asked in a radio interview about a hypothetical nuclear option, Eliyahu had replied: "That's one way."

From Reuters • Nov. 7, 2023

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023