nuclear winter

nuclear winter

noun
the general devastation of life, along with worldwide darkness and extreme cold, that some scientists believe would result from a global dust cloud screening out sunlight following large-scale nuclear detonations.

Origin:
1980–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Nuclear winter is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
Collins
World English Dictionary
nuclear winter
 
n
a period of extremely low temperatures and little light that, it has been suggested, would occur as a result of a nuclear war

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

nuclear winter definition


A theory first put forward in 1983 predicting that a large-scale nuclear exchange would produce enough smoke and soot to lower the temperature of the Earth significantly. Subsequent calculations indicated that the climatic effects would be much less than had originally been claimed, leading to the use of the term nuclear autumn to describe the phenomenon.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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