fallout
/ˈfɔlˌaʊt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.69 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The event of small airborne particles falling to the ground in significant quantities as a result of major industrial activity, volcano eruption, sandstorm, nuclear explosion, etc.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "It was 5 February 2010 and Safdar had already dealt with the fallout of one explosion that day: an hour before, a motorbike laden with explosives had slammed into a bus carrying Shia Muslims to a religious procession."
- "On 26 April 1986 the reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant located in the Soviet Union near Pripyat in Ukraine exploded. Further explosions and the resulting fire sent a plume of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area."
- "Psychological fallout in the shadow of terrorism"
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfɔlˌaʊt/
- British English: /ˈfɔːlaʊt/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
area of militarily significant fallout
atmospheric fallout
borrower fallout
chemical fallout
executive fallout
fallout contour
fallout pattern
fallout prediction