Fallout is the cloud of radioactive material that falls from the sky after a nuclear blast. Fear of the effects offallout is just one reason some people are nervous about nuclear energy.
- Pronunciation: /'fɔlaʊt/
- English Description: the radioactive particles that settle to the ground after a nuclear explosion
- Synonyms: radioactive dust
- Chinese Translation: 辐射(fu2 she4)
- Spanish Translation: la lluvia radiactiva
- ORIGIN: Nuclear fallout settles on the ground and in the atmosphere after a nuclear bomb explodes or a reaction occurs at a damaged nuclear power plant. The dangers of this kind of fallout are enormous, including immediate death and long-term illness caused by breathing and eating the radioactive dust. Another kind of fallout is more figurative — it's any kind of negative effect or result, like the fallout from telling your family you're getting an enormous tattoo.
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
- Further fallout from the downgrade will depend on how other major ratings agencies respond.
- A criminal probe that seemed unlikely just a few months ago is now very real, and the political fallout for Clinton is palpable.
*New word description, story and part of "EXAMPLE SENTENCE" are cited in Vocabulary.com