nuke

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

US /nuk/ UK /njuːk/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to attack with nuclear weapons; (informal) to heat in a microwave

He nuked the leftovers for two minutes and ate at his desk.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to attack with nuclear... bomb microwave obliterate annihilatezapdestroy

Word family

Derived forms nukednuking

Related forms nuclear nucleus

Etymology

A clipping of nuclear (or nuclear weapon), from Latin nucleus ('kernel'), diminutive of nux ('nut'). The microwave sense is jocular slang.

nucleus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes Register & Style

External links

# nuke

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /nuk/
**IPA (UK):** /njuːk/

## Meanings
1. to attack with nuclear weapons; (informal) to heat in a microwave

## Examples
- He nuked the leftovers for two minutes and ate at his desk.

## Synonyms
- bomb
- microwave
- obliterate
- annihilate
- zap
- destroy

## Derived Forms
- nuked
- nuking

## Related Forms
- nuclear
- nucleus

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: nucleus

## Etymology
A clipping of nuclear (or nuclear weapon), from Latin nucleus ('kernel'), diminutive of nux ('nut'). The microwave sense is jocular slang.

## AI Etymology
Nuke is a clipping of nuclear (or nuclear weapon), from Latin nucleus ('kernel'), diminutive of nux ('nut'). The microwave sense is jocular slang. The etymological trail includes Latin nucleus. As a verb, nuke means to attack with nuclear weapons; (informal) to heat in a microwave. The same family is visible in derived forms such as nuked and nuking and related forms such as nuclear and nucleus.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes
- Register & Style

markdown