thermonuclear

[thur-moh-noo-klee-er, -nyoo-, -kyuh-ler]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or involving a thermonuclear reaction.

   thermonuclear power.

thermonuclear

/ ˌθɜːməʊˈnjuːklɪə /

adjective

1. involving nuclear fusion

   a thermonuclear reaction

   thermonuclear energy

2. involving thermonuclear weapons

   a thermonuclear war

thermonuclear

1. Relating to the fusion of atomic nuclei at high temperatures or to the energy produced in this way.

2. Relating to weapons based on nuclear fusion, especially as distinguished from those based on nuclear fission.

thermonuclear

1. A term referring to devices that use nuclear fusion, the fusion of atomic nuclei, to produce energy at very high temperatures. (See hydrogen bomb.)

Pronunciation Note

See nuclear.

Word History and Origins

Origin of thermonuclear¹

First recorded in 1935–40; thermo- + nuclear

Example Sentences

To create the type of thermonuclear burning that occurs inside stars would require tremendous heat and pressure.

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And it's exactly what he went against when going full thermonuclear on Rodgers on Monday.

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But China is not one of them, prohibited by Congress during the Obama era from cooperating with the United States in space after attempting to steal U.S. technology on intercontinental ballistic missiles and thermonuclear weapons.

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Worse yet, today’s arsenals contain thousands of thermonuclear weapons, some of them up to 1,000 times more powerful than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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During his Nobel Peace Prize speech, Martin Luther King Jr. declared: “I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction.”

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