nuclear weapon

noun

"nuclear-weapon" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“nuclear weapon” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A weapon that derives its energy from the nuclear reactions of either fission or fusion.

Corpus desk

Index EN-nuclear-weapon · nuclear weapon · English

nuclear weapon · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 14 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "N" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for nuclear weapon
PropertyValue
Headwordnuclear weapon
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “nuclear weapon” in English

nuclear weaponranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

nuclear weapon is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A weapon that derives its energy from the nuclear reactions of either fission or fusion.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for nuclear weapon, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is nuclear weapon, spelled N-U-C-L-E-A-R- -W-E-A-P-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A weapon that derives its energy from the nuclear reactions of either fission or fusion.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how nuclear weapon appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. When Kissinger went to Moscow on March 24 for four days of talks aimed at setting the agenda for Summit III, he reported that Brezhnev seemed to be confronting some of the same problems as we were of military opposition to a permanent agreement to limit offensive nuclear weapons. Thus we knew from the outset that it would be very difficult to produce a ma…
  2. Even if they managed to strike Japan, the United States or South Korea with nuclear weapons — a big if, given that they do not have a reliable delivery system — they could not save themselves from ultimate defeat.

Synonyms

atomic weaponthermonuclear weaponnuke

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "nuclear weapon"?
"nuclear weapon" is spelled N-U-C-L-E-A-R- -W-E-A-P-O-N.
What does "nuclear weapon" mean?
As a noun, "nuclear weapon" means: A weapon that derives its energy from the nuclear reactions of either fission or fusion.
What language does "nuclear weapon" come from?
"nuclear weapon" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list