"go nuclear" meaning in All languages combined

See go nuclear on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Forms: goes nuclear [present, singular, third-person], going nuclear [participle, present], went nuclear [past], gone nuclear [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|go<goes,,went,gone> nuclear}} go nuclear (third-person singular simple present goes nuclear, present participle going nuclear, simple past went nuclear, past participle gone nuclear)
  1. (of a country) To acquire nuclear weapons. Categories (topical): Nuclear warfare
    Sense id: en-go_nuclear-en-verb-bgg~eorG Disambiguation of Nuclear warfare: 35 4 29 27 5 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 35 2 26 30 7 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 30 7 24 31 8 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 31 2 23 35 9
  2. To start using nuclear technology.
    Sense id: en-go_nuclear-en-verb-eUuRaFRF
  3. To involve the use of nuclear weapons, especially in war. Categories (topical): Nuclear warfare
    Sense id: en-go_nuclear-en-verb-qJEn4Zcs Disambiguation of Nuclear warfare: 35 4 29 27 5 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 35 2 26 30 7 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 30 7 24 31 8 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 31 2 23 35 9
  4. (figurative) To throw a fit; To become enraged with an angry outburst. Tags: figuratively Categories (topical): Nuclear warfare
    Sense id: en-go_nuclear-en-verb-KZVR7H2J Disambiguation of Nuclear warfare: 35 4 29 27 5 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 35 2 26 30 7 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 30 7 24 31 8 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 31 2 23 35 9
  5. (figurative) To escalate to an extremely high level of excitement or enthusiasm. Tags: figuratively
    Sense id: en-go_nuclear-en-verb-T3ZUkCxy

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for go nuclear meaning in All languages combined (9.4kB)

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      "form": "went nuclear",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
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        {
          "ref": "2000, Hooman Peimani, Nuclear Proliferation in the Indian Subcontinent, page 28",
          "text": "In this context, the humiliating defeat of 1971 and the Indian nuclear test were major factors in the Pakistani decision to go nuclear.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Ted Galen Carpenter, Smart Power: Toward a Prudent Foreign Policy for America, page 111",
          "text": "A decision to go nuclear has important adverse diplomatic repercussions as well. Trying to build a nuclear arsenal is not the way to win friends in the international community.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Shane J. Maddock, Nuclear Apartheid",
          "text": "This agreement codified nuclear apartheid, leaving in place three types of nuclear states: the five recognized nuclear powers (the United States, Britain, China, France, and the Soviet Union), NATO and Warsaw Pact allies with access to nuclear weapons but not ownership, and a large class of non-nuclear states who renounced their right to go nuclear.",
          "type": "quotation"
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      "glosses": [
        "To acquire nuclear weapons."
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      "id": "en-go_nuclear-en-verb-bgg~eorG",
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        "(of a country) To acquire nuclear weapons."
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        {
          "ref": "1997, Robert Pool, Beyond Engineering: How Society Shapes Technology",
          "text": "Now the cost-benefiters calculated nuclear power to be a more efficient investment than building more coal-fired plants, which put them in agreement with the technological optimists on the question of whether to go nuclear.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, A.W. Galston, Christiana Z. Peppard, Expanding Horizons in Bioethics, page 240",
          "text": "However, once we bite the bullet and decide to go nuclear again, it will take at least a decade before new plants start coming on line.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Resurgence, page 30",
          "text": "When US energy policy went nuclear, about the same time as some large mines flooded in Canada and Australia, hedge fund speculators dived into the market and uranium shot up to US$138 a pound, settling back eventually to about half that price, but still almost ten times the US$7 low.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, George G. Berg, Measurement of Risks, page 338",
          "text": "I suppose what he is worried about is epitomized by a conversation that I had ten years ago with the Executive Vice President of a utility that was going nuclear.",
          "type": "quotation"
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      "glosses": [
        "To start using nuclear technology."
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          "ref": "1984, Douglas P. Lackey, Moral Principles and Nuclear Weapons, page 236",
          "text": "Some have suggested that nuclear disarmament will increase the chance that conventional wars will occur since nation states will no longer be deterred by the thought that wars can go nuclear.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Paul Wilkinson, Technology and Terorrism, page 48",
          "text": "This paper does not deal with nuclear terrorism as Thomas Schelling once defined it — namely being he 'balance of nuclear terror' between the major nuclear weapon state - but rather refers to terrorist groups going nuclear.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Dean Marquis, Roxanne of Dark Energy: A Construct of Science Fiction",
          "text": "The best place to be if things went nuclear was in a bomb shelter.",
          "type": "quotation"
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      "glosses": [
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2011, Kevin Dodds, Edward Van Halen: A Definitive Biography, page 150",
          "text": "“We cut the show short, and the brothers went nuclear on me afterward,” said Sammy. “They crucified me for that.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, James Patterson, NYPD Red 3",
          "text": "He snickered. Janelle was going nuclear. “Why didn't you tell me?” she shouted.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Helen Walmsley-Johnson, The Invisible Woman: Taking on the Vintage Years",
          "text": "There's barely a week that goes by without me going nuclear about something or other to do with middle age as portrayed in the media.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
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      "id": "en-go_nuclear-en-verb-KZVR7H2J",
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        ],
        [
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) To throw a fit; To become enraged with an angry outburst."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1999 November, Ted West, “Kicking and Screaming”, in Boating, page 114",
          "text": "Years ago, the sport spread from New Zealand to Australia—and went nuclear. Overnight, it seemed, Australia boasted 40 tracks, which were promptly divided into several warring factions.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Lucy Monroe, The Sheikh's Bartered Bride",
          "text": "As if the release of her emotions had freed something in him, his ardor increased and the kiss went nuclear.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Marky Ramone, Richard Herschlag, Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone, page 358",
          "text": "But the fever pitch went nuclear when the Ramones took the stage.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 December 12, Hailey Fuchs, Pranshu Verma, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, “4 Stabbed and One Shot as Trump Supporters and Opponents Clash”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "“They don’t want to deal with this,” Ms. Lalich said. “It’s going to have to go nuclear, using the Insurrection Act and bringing out the military.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To escalate to an extremely high level of excitement or enthusiasm."
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      "id": "en-go_nuclear-en-verb-T3ZUkCxy",
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) To escalate to an extremely high level of excitement or enthusiasm."
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      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
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    }
  ],
  "word": "go nuclear"
}
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      "form": "goes nuclear",
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  "lang_code": "en",
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        {
          "ref": "2000, Hooman Peimani, Nuclear Proliferation in the Indian Subcontinent, page 28",
          "text": "In this context, the humiliating defeat of 1971 and the Indian nuclear test were major factors in the Pakistani decision to go nuclear.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Ted Galen Carpenter, Smart Power: Toward a Prudent Foreign Policy for America, page 111",
          "text": "A decision to go nuclear has important adverse diplomatic repercussions as well. Trying to build a nuclear arsenal is not the way to win friends in the international community.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
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        "(of a country) To acquire nuclear weapons."
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          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, A.W. Galston, Christiana Z. Peppard, Expanding Horizons in Bioethics, page 240",
          "text": "However, once we bite the bullet and decide to go nuclear again, it will take at least a decade before new plants start coming on line.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Resurgence, page 30",
          "text": "When US energy policy went nuclear, about the same time as some large mines flooded in Canada and Australia, hedge fund speculators dived into the market and uranium shot up to US$138 a pound, settling back eventually to about half that price, but still almost ten times the US$7 low.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, George G. Berg, Measurement of Risks, page 338",
          "text": "I suppose what he is worried about is epitomized by a conversation that I had ten years ago with the Executive Vice President of a utility that was going nuclear.",
          "type": "quotation"
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      "glosses": [
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          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Paul Wilkinson, Technology and Terorrism, page 48",
          "text": "This paper does not deal with nuclear terrorism as Thomas Schelling once defined it — namely being he 'balance of nuclear terror' between the major nuclear weapon state - but rather refers to terrorist groups going nuclear.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "2015, Dean Marquis, Roxanne of Dark Energy: A Construct of Science Fiction",
          "text": "The best place to be if things went nuclear was in a bomb shelter.",
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          "ref": "2011, Kevin Dodds, Edward Van Halen: A Definitive Biography, page 150",
          "text": "“We cut the show short, and the brothers went nuclear on me afterward,” said Sammy. “They crucified me for that.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, James Patterson, NYPD Red 3",
          "text": "He snickered. Janelle was going nuclear. “Why didn't you tell me?” she shouted.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Helen Walmsley-Johnson, The Invisible Woman: Taking on the Vintage Years",
          "text": "There's barely a week that goes by without me going nuclear about something or other to do with middle age as portrayed in the media.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        "(figurative) To throw a fit; To become enraged with an angry outburst."
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          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Lucy Monroe, The Sheikh's Bartered Bride",
          "text": "As if the release of her emotions had freed something in him, his ardor increased and the kiss went nuclear.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Marky Ramone, Richard Herschlag, Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone, page 358",
          "text": "But the fever pitch went nuclear when the Ramones took the stage.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 December 12, Hailey Fuchs, Pranshu Verma, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, “4 Stabbed and One Shot as Trump Supporters and Opponents Clash”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "“They don’t want to deal with this,” Ms. Lalich said. “It’s going to have to go nuclear, using the Insurrection Act and bringing out the military.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To escalate to an extremely high level of excitement or enthusiasm."
      ],
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        "(figurative) To escalate to an extremely high level of excitement or enthusiasm."
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      "tags": [
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  ],
  "word": "go nuclear"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (a644e18 and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.