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

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

One of the big premises of the book was to take readers from nuclear launch to nuclear winter and the nuclear launch up to Day Zero takes place over this horrifying 72-minute period. —Sean Illing, Vox, 23 June 2024

The threat to humanity's very existence would come after the war, when soot from massive fires ignited by the bombings would rapidly alter the climate in a scenario known as nuclear winter. —Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 21 Mar. 2023

Fears of nuclear winter may have receded since the end of the cold war, Diaz-Maurin says, but research shows that the environmental consequences would be severe. —Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 21 Mar. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1983, in the meaning defined above