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

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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 The nuclear winter that would follow a nuclear war would render large parts of the planet uninhabitable. Niall Ferguson, Foreign Affairs, 18 May 2021 And now, after the long nuclear winter of aural isolation, the clouds have parted, the sun is shining through, and the cassette is back, baby. Spin Team, SPIN, 28 Nov. 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 9 Jan. 2025.

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