nuke
Americannoun
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nukes
plural
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a nuclear or thermonuclear weapon.
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a nuclear power plant or nuclear reactor.
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nuclear energy.
to convert from coal to nuke.
adjective
verb (used with object)
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nukes,
present (3rd person singular)
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nuked,
past participle, past
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nuking
present participle
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to attack, defeat, or destroy with or as if with nuclear weapons.
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Slang. to cook or bake in a microwave oven.
verb
noun
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a nuclear bomb
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a military strike with nuclear weapons
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nuclear power
-
a nuclear power plant
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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nukesimple
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nukessimple
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have nukedperfect
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has nukedperfect
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am nukingprogressive
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are nukingprogressive
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is nukingprogressive
-
have been nukingperfect progressive
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has been nukingperfect progressive
Past
-
nukedsimple
-
had nukedperfect
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was nukingprogressive
-
were nukingprogressive
-
had been nukingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of nuke
First recorded in 1945–50; by shortening and respelling
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.
See Examples For:
“Just imagine having to reason about a nuke that could also solve cancer.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
Thank whatever god responsible that never happened, because the devastation of dropping just one nuke would be so horrendous that we can barely comprehend it.
From Salon ● May 8, 2026
Anything short of that is merely kicking the nuke down the road.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026
“The implicit message is not just: ‘We could nuke Los Angeles.’
From New York Times ● Feb. 4, 2024
“Is this some end-of-the-world thing? You want to find your father and reconcile before your alien friends nuke the planet?”
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
If it does, Saudi Arabia probably “has an interest in keeping open the possibility of having some nukes as a deterrent” of its own, Fred says.
From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026
“There’s I believe a growing appreciation that AIs are the new nukes, you have to have them.”
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
In case of a Soviet attack, nukes dispersed in thousands of miles of cut-and-cover tunnels could be launched within 20 minutes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026
And Kim’s confidence in his country’s nuclear program is so strong that he has signaled a major policy shift next year, where advances in conventional weaponry will take equal footing with the nukes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2025
And that the Soviets had dozens of hydrogen bomb warheads in Cuba during the crisis—plus tactical nukes that Soviet commanders were ready and willing to use if attacked.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
This command to wipe out the files as fast as possible nuked “Toy Story 2” in the time it takes to play “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
"I thought we got nuked or something," Mr Rogers told the local newspaper.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2025
“It’s really ironic that this piece probably got more attention than anything we normally published,” Lopez added, “even after they nuked the website.”
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
The United States has ruled, nuked, resettled, been attacked from and fought wars on the smaller islands scattered across the Pacific over a span of more than 100 years.
From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2023
Around five o’clock, he nuked a frozen dinner and popped the movie into the VCR.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
“But I would not subscribe to the idea of nuking the Fed.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
His flawed hyperloop plan, for example, or nuking the Martian poles to create an atmosphere, or basically anything he’s promised about Twitter.
From Scientific American ● May 15, 2023
Scrambling an egg is — apart from boiling water or nuking a burrito — perhaps the easiest thing a cook can do.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 30, 2021
Yes, today’s helicopter and tiger parents were once latchkey kids, nuking solitary French bread pizza dinners in the microwave.
From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2021
I was still fuzzy on why nuking grapes could cause a plasma ball.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
