nuke

American  

[nook, nyook] / nuk, nyuk /

noun

1. a nuclear or thermonuclear weapon.

2. a nuclear power plant or nuclear reactor.

3. nuclear energy.

   to convert from coal to nuke.

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adjective

1. of or relating to a nuclear or thermonuclear weapon or to a nuclear plant.

verb (used with object)

nuked, nuking

1. to attack, defeat, or destroy with or as if with nuclear weapons.

2. Slang. to cook or bake in a microwave oven.

nuke British  

/ njuːk /

verb

1. to attack or destroy with nuclear weapons

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noun

1. a nuclear bomb

2. a military strike with nuclear weapons

3. nuclear power

4. a nuclear power plant

Etymology

Origin of nuke

First recorded in 1945–50; by shortening and respelling

Example Sentences

Anything short of that is merely kicking the nuke down the road.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

Stopping the nuke would give them more time to gather intelligence, but we learn there’s only a 61% chance of intercepting it.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 9, 2025

“The implicit message is not just: ‘We could nuke Los Angeles.’

From New York Times • Feb. 4, 2024

If that’s not interesting, maybe DHS could focus more on making sure that the Pentagon’s nuke silos and surrounding local areas are not full of hacker-friendly holes.

From Salon • Dec. 31, 2023

A tiny amount of airborne Ebola could nuke a building full of people if it got into the air-conditioning system.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston