nuclear winter

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noun

the general devastation of life, along with worldwide darkness and extreme cold, that some scientists believe would result from a global dust cloud screening out sunlight following large-scale nuclear detonations.

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Origin of nuclear winter

First recorded in 1980–85

Words nearby nuclear winter

nuclear threshold, nuclear transfer, nuclear warhead, nuclear waste, nuclear weapon, nuclear winter, nuclease, nucleate, nucleated, nucleating agent, nucleation

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use nuclear winter in a sentence

But I think Steve Austin has to team up with a Japanese holdout to stop a nuclear bomb from going off or something.
‘Archer’ Creator Adam Reed Spills Season 6 Secrets, From Surreal Plotlines to Life Post-ISIS|Marlow Stern|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
One line in “Winter Wonderland” has stopped countless people dead in their tracks.
The Most Confusing Christmas Music Lyrics Explained (VIDEO)|Kevin Fallon|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He used negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program as an example.
Fact-Checking the Sunday Shows: Dec 21|PunditFact.com|December 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
After all, the Russians were about to mount a winter offensive of their own.
Hitler’s Hail Mary|James A. Warren|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Gordon G. Chang is a Forbes.com columnist and the author of Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On the World.
U.S. Should Make North Korea Pay for Sony Hack|Gordon G. Chang|December 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She is spending the summer near Deppe, and he hears her play the programme she is going to give in Berlin next winter, every day.
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
Each seems satisfied with the way his own branch is getting on: Winter is the quicker worker.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton
The winter of 1897-98 was spent by Mr. Kipling and his family, accompanied by his father, in South Africa.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling
One day she had heard a man say, "If there is a drought we shall have the devil to pay with our stock before winter is over."
Ramona|Helen Hunt Jackson
He had the land in Tripp County that was broken into winter wheat, while that in the next county east was rented.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux

British Dictionary definitions for nuclear winter

nuclear winter

noun

a period of extremely low temperatures and little light that, it has been suggested, would occur as a result of a nuclear war

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

Cultural definitions for nuclear winter

nuclear winter

A theory first put forward in 1983 predicting that a large-scale nuclear exchange would produce enough smoke and soot to lower the temperature of the Earth significantly. Subsequent calculations indicated that the climatic effects would be much less than had originally been claimed, leading to the use of the term nuclear autumn to describe the phenomenon.