FALLOUT

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fallout mean? 

• FALLOUT (noun)
  The noun FALLOUT has 2 senses:

1. the radioactive particles that settle to the ground after a nuclear explosion

2. any adverse and unwanted secondary effect

  Familiarity information: FALLOUT used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FALLOUT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The radioactive particles that settle to the ground after a nuclear explosion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

fallout; radioactive dust

Hypernyms ("fallout" is a kind of...):

dust (fine powdery material such as dry earth or pollen that can be blown about in the air)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any adverse and unwanted secondary effect

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

fallout; side effect

Context example:

a strategy to contain the fallout from the accounting scandal

Hypernyms ("fallout" is a kind of...):

consequence; effect; event; issue; outcome; result; upshot (a phenomenon that follows and is caused by some previous phenomenon)

 Context examples 

Almost every reader of every sign will feel the fallout from this new moon to some degree, however, from strong to mild.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The Cambridge-led team pinpointed the date of the eruption using ice core records from Greenland that preserve the volcanic fallout from Eldgjá.

(Volcanic eruption influenced Iceland’s conversion to Christianity, University of Cambridge)