atomic bomb

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

atomic bomb (plural atomic bombs)

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

   Synonyms: atom bomb, A-bomb, fission bomb

   • 1914, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 2, in The World Set Free‎:

     The gaunt face hardened to grimness, and with both hands the bomb-thrower lifted the big atomic bomb from the box and steadied it against the side.

2. (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