nuclear winter

noun

: the chilling of climate that is hypothesized to be a consequence of nuclear war and to result from the prolonged blockage of sunlight by high-altitude dust clouds produced by nuclear explosions

Examples of nuclear winter in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Tariff timeline: Tracking the evolution of Donald Trump's trade war 'Economic nuclear winter': Trump allies worried over tariffs Trump says the ultimate fruits of tariffs will be worth the pain. Jamie L. Lareau, USA Today, 9 Apr. 2025 Such was the case with the atomic bomb, which made for grisly prophecies not only of the sudden carnage of a fiery blast but also of the prolonged suffering of a nuclear winter. Jennifer Szalai, New York Times, 22 Jan. 2025 Radioactive fallout and nuclear winter, in which dust and smoke blot out the sun, would mean the extinction of most life on Earth. Adam Kirsch, The Atlantic, 31 Dec. 2024 Pierre Poilievre has said that there’s going to be economic nuclear winter if the Trudeau government prevails. Hazlitt, 25 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for nuclear winter

Word History

First Known Use

1983, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of nuclear winter was in 1983

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Cite this Entry

“Nuclear winter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nuclear%20winter. Accessed 20 Apr. 2025.

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