"nuclear button" meaning in English

See nuclear button in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: nuclear buttons [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} nuclear button (plural nuclear buttons)
  1. The means (not likely an actual button) of quickly and easily launching nuclear warheads. Categories (topical): Nuclear warfare Related terms: hit the button
    Sense id: en-nuclear_button-en-noun-j~BIcrKj Disambiguation of Nuclear warfare: 88 12 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 88 12 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 93 7 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 93 7
  2. (by extension) The means of triggering a huge controversy, fight, or act of destruction. Tags: broadly
    Sense id: en-nuclear_button-en-noun-ddQptuKb

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "nuclear buttons",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "nuclear button (plural nuclear buttons)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "88 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "93 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "93 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "88 12",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Nuclear warfare",
          "orig": "en:Nuclear warfare",
          "parents": [
            "War",
            "Weapons",
            "Conflict",
            "Military",
            "Violence",
            "Hunting",
            "Tools",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Society",
            "Human activity",
            "Technology",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2014 September 1, Matthew d’Ancona, “Boris Johnson’s Blond Ambition”, in New York Times:",
          "text": "Imagine, now, this irrepressible figure [Boris Johnson] transposed to the Group of 8 summit chamber, or with his finger on the nuclear button, or in the Downing Street equivalent of the White House Situation Room, deciding whether or not to send British troops to war.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019, Dietrich Schroeer, Alessandro Pascolini, The Weapons Legacy of the Cold War, page 77:",
          "text": "Reportedly, as Yeltsin accepted the need for bypass surgery he at first considered delegating responsibility for security to Premier Chernomyrdin, but retaining the nuclear button.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020, William J. Perry, Tom Z. Collina, The Button:",
          "text": "So, we decided to write this book, a history of the nuclear button, based on the insights of the people most experienced with this dangerous remnant from the Cold War.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The means (not likely an actual button) of quickly and easily launching nuclear warheads."
      ],
      "id": "en-nuclear_button-en-noun-j~BIcrKj",
      "links": [
        [
          "quickly",
          "quickly"
        ],
        [
          "easily",
          "easily"
        ],
        [
          "launch",
          "launch"
        ],
        [
          "nuclear",
          "nuclear"
        ],
        [
          "warhead",
          "warhead"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "word": "hit the button"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012, David Murphy, Martina Devlin, Banksters, page 1972:",
          "text": "The four left the meeting and in their absence the nuclear button was pushed. A daring plan was hatched to fully underwrite Ireland's entire banking network.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 February 3, Elle Hunt, “When is it appropriate to reply all? Mostly never”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "We’ve now had 20 years of cautionary tales about replyallpocalypses. For the sake of workplace harmony: keep your pointer off the nuclear button.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021, Alison Sarah James, Heroine, First Female Elite Special Forces Uk:",
          "text": "All RAF we ask, surprisingly as we are easygoing generally, admit they would press the nuclear button if cuckolded by adversary whether they hate or love him!",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The means of triggering a huge controversy, fight, or act of destruction."
      ],
      "id": "en-nuclear_button-en-noun-ddQptuKb",
      "links": [
        [
          "trigger",
          "trigger"
        ],
        [
          "controversy",
          "controversy"
        ],
        [
          "fight",
          "fight"
        ],
        [
          "destruction",
          "destruction"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension) The means of triggering a huge controversy, fight, or act of destruction."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "nuclear button"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Nuclear warfare"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "nuclear buttons",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "nuclear button (plural nuclear buttons)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "hit the button"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2014 September 1, Matthew d’Ancona, “Boris Johnson’s Blond Ambition”, in New York Times:",
          "text": "Imagine, now, this irrepressible figure [Boris Johnson] transposed to the Group of 8 summit chamber, or with his finger on the nuclear button, or in the Downing Street equivalent of the White House Situation Room, deciding whether or not to send British troops to war.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019, Dietrich Schroeer, Alessandro Pascolini, The Weapons Legacy of the Cold War, page 77:",
          "text": "Reportedly, as Yeltsin accepted the need for bypass surgery he at first considered delegating responsibility for security to Premier Chernomyrdin, but retaining the nuclear button.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020, William J. Perry, Tom Z. Collina, The Button:",
          "text": "So, we decided to write this book, a history of the nuclear button, based on the insights of the people most experienced with this dangerous remnant from the Cold War.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The means (not likely an actual button) of quickly and easily launching nuclear warheads."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "quickly",
          "quickly"
        ],
        [
          "easily",
          "easily"
        ],
        [
          "launch",
          "launch"
        ],
        [
          "nuclear",
          "nuclear"
        ],
        [
          "warhead",
          "warhead"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012, David Murphy, Martina Devlin, Banksters, page 1972:",
          "text": "The four left the meeting and in their absence the nuclear button was pushed. A daring plan was hatched to fully underwrite Ireland's entire banking network.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 February 3, Elle Hunt, “When is it appropriate to reply all? Mostly never”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "We’ve now had 20 years of cautionary tales about replyallpocalypses. For the sake of workplace harmony: keep your pointer off the nuclear button.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021, Alison Sarah James, Heroine, First Female Elite Special Forces Uk:",
          "text": "All RAF we ask, surprisingly as we are easygoing generally, admit they would press the nuclear button if cuckolded by adversary whether they hate or love him!",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The means of triggering a huge controversy, fight, or act of destruction."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "trigger",
          "trigger"
        ],
        [
          "controversy",
          "controversy"
        ],
        [
          "fight",
          "fight"
        ],
        [
          "destruction",
          "destruction"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension) The means of triggering a huge controversy, fight, or act of destruction."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "nuclear button"
}

Download raw JSONL data for nuclear button meaning in English (3.0kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). 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.

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