Denuclearizing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Stripping a nation or area of its atomic weapons and the capacity to build them ; phasing out the use of nuclear power as an energy source ; decontaminating a site by clearing away radioactive material
2. Ridding a country or territory of nuclear arms ; ending reliance on atomic energy for electricity ; cleaning up a location by taking out radioactive substances
3. Clearing a region of atomic bombs and related weaponry ; shutting down the use of nuclear reactors for power ; removing radioactive residue from a place or object

Etymology: "Denuclearizing" is the present participle of "denuclearize", which is built from the prefix "de-" meaning "removal of" or "reversal of," attached to "nuclearize." The verb "nuclearize" in turn comes from "nuclear" plus the suffix "-ize," which passed into English through Middle French from Late Latin and ultimately from Ancient Greek "-izein," used to form verbs meaning "to make into" or "to treat in a certain way." The result is a word whose meaning runs in the opposite direction from its parts' most familiar sense: where "nuclearize" means to equip a country or region with nuclear weapons or power, "denuclearize" means stripping that capacity away. The "de-" prefix, borrowed from Latin "dē," which meant "down from" or "away," is the same element found in words like "decompose" and "deflate," and it is the engine of nearly every reversal verb in English.

Synonyms: disarm

Antonyms: nuclearize, rearm