D defs.my
Entry 1 sense Webster, 1913

Nuclear weapon

/no͞ok'-lē-ẽr wĕp'-ən/ · Nu·cle·ar wea·pon · IPA
01 n. A weapon of great explosive power, such as an atomic bomb or a hydrogen bomb, which depends for most of its explosive power on the release …
  1. 1.
    A weapon of great explosive power, such as an atomic bomb or a hydrogen bomb, which depends for most of its explosive power on the release of energy from within atomic nuclei by a nuclear reaction. A fission weapon or a fusion weapon. The term includes atomic shells for cannon.