nuclear winter

American  

[noo-klee-er win-ter, nyoo-] / ˈnu kli ər ˈwɪn tər, ˈnju- /

noun

1. 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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nuclear winter British  

noun

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

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nuclear winter Cultural  

1. 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.

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Pronunciation

See nuclear ( def. ).

Etymology

Origin of nuclear winter

First recorded in 1980–85

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nuclear winter

He led the company through the telecom nuclear winter of the early 2000s, which was more economically devastating than the preceding dot-com bust.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

It would represent a small and desperately needed ray of sunshine, before what could be baseball’s nuclear winter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026

Go be close to the people we love and wait for the nuclear winter?

From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2025

Robock, who previously showed the world how a nuclear winter could shroud Earth, studies SRM out of a sense of obligation.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 20, 2023

Scientists came up with a term for this terrifying scenario: nuclear winter.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

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