nuclear option

noun

1

: the option of using nuclear weapons in war

… it is now unimaginable that we would use anything approaching the full measure of our military power (the nuclear option aside) in the wars we fight.

—Shelby Steele

2

: an extreme option regarded as a drastic step or last resort

The EU has most leverage over countries that are desperate to join. Once in the club, with full voting rights, countries can answer back, leaving their peers with only the nuclear option of trying to expel them.

—The Economist

specifically, US politics : a parliamentary procedure in the U.S. Senate by which the requirement of the affirmative votes of a supermajority of senators is changed to require only a simple majority to invoke cloture in order to stop a filibuster and allow a vote on a matter (such as a judicial nomination) to proceed

Since Republicans can't muster the 60 votes necessary to overcome this particular filibuster, they now want to use their authority over Senate procedures to abolish the maneuver itself, at least for judicial nominees. Exercising this "nuclear option," as it is known, would theoretically require the support of just a simple majority of senators, which Republican leaders say they are on the verge of solidifying.

—Jonathan Cohn

Examples of nuclear option in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The nuclear option Some combination of nuclear and hydroelectric power supports the world’s eight big clean grids. —Alex Pavlak, Baltimore Sun, 6 Jan. 2025

Any international observer should be able to understand Seoul’s reasoning for pursuing a nuclear option. —Robert E. Kelly, Foreign Affairs, 30 Dec. 2024

Later that year at a low-level event in Asuncion, Paraguay, Errani took the nuclear option by serving underarm for the entire tournament. —Charlie Eccleshare, The Athletic, 21 Nov. 2024

Correspondent David Pogue talks with experts who explain why initiatives at the nation's highest court -- from a code of ethics to term limits to the nuclear option of impeachment -- are unlikely to restore respect and trust in SCOTUS any time soon. —David Morgan, CBS News, 29 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1962, in the meaning defined at sense 1