nuclear option

noun

1. the use of or power to use nuclear weapons

2. the use of or power to use a measure considered to be particularly drastic

   the nuclear option of a confidence vote

Example Sentences

Republican senators had been resistant to the so-called “nuclear option” before the elections, and after the party’s shocking losses they came back with a hard no.

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The single best step that Democrats could take under a future unified control would be to use the “nuclear option” to expand voting rights.

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After years of damaging headlines over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and allegations that the prince sexually abused a teen, King Charles III decided to take the nuclear option on his younger brother: Andrew will be stripped of all his titles and kicked out of the 30-room Windsor mansion he currently lives in.

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

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

Read more on Barron's