atomic bomb

Coined by British science fiction author H. G. Wells in his 1914 novel The World Set Free.

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atomic bomb (plural atomic bombs)

2. (countable, military) A nuclear weapon that obtains its destructive energy from nuclear fission.

   Synonyms: atom bomb, A-bomb, fission bomb

   • 1945 August 6, Harry S. Truman, “Statement by the President Announcing the Use of the A-Bomb at Hiroshima”, in UVA Miller Center Presidential Speeches‎^[1], University of Virginia Miller Center:

     In their present form these bombs are now in production and even more powerful forms are in development. It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.

3. (uncountable, colloquial, with the) The possession of one or more atomic bombs; the ability to launch a nuclear attack.

   Synonym: the bomb

   Nine different countries have the atomic bomb as of 2022.

• nuclear weapon, nuke, superbomb
• weapon of mass destruction, WMD

• hydrogen bomb, H-bomb
• neutron bomb

• nucleomitophobia