Nuclearising

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Arming a country or force with atomic weapons ; converting an industry or energy system over to power generated by nuclear reactors
2. Supplying a state or army with atomic arms ; shifting a power supply so that it depends on nuclear reactors for energy
3. Providing a military with nuclear bombs or missiles ; changing a country's electricity production to rely on atomic fission plants

Etymology: "Nuclearising" is simply the present participle and gerund of "nuclearise", which takes its shape from the adjective "nuclear" with the verb-forming ending "-ise" added. The ending itself has a long pedigree: it passed into English through Middle French "-iser", which had come from Late Latin "-izare", and that in turn was borrowed from Ancient Greek "-izein", a suffix used to turn nouns and adjectives into verbs meaning to make, treat, or act in a certain way. The base word "nuclear" is the more recent part of the story. It comes from "nucleus", the Latin word for the kernel or core of a nut, and it was later applied to the central part of an atom and to nuclear physics. Because "nuclear" was formed in the modern scientific era, the verb built on it is a modern coinage too, and its sense of equipping a country or force with atomic weapons follows naturally from the military meaning of the adjective.

Synonyms: nuclearizing

Antonyms: denuclearising