radioactive

See also: radioactivé

English

Alternative forms

• radio-active (dated)

Etymology

Coined by Pierre Curie and Marie Curie in 1898 as French radio-actif, equivalent to English radio- +‎ active.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɹeɪdioʊˈaktɪv/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɹeɪdioʊˈæktɪv/
• Rhymes: -æktɪv

Adjective

radioactive (comparative more radioactive, superlative most radioactive)

1. Exhibiting radioactivity.
   • 1917, H. G. Wells, “The First Vision”, in The Soul of a Bishop‎:

     As a matter of fact many of our best drinking waters have all sorts of unspecified qualities. Burton water, for example, is radioactive by Beetham's standards up to the ninth degree.

2. (figurative, rare) Dangerous and disgusting, particularly of people or ideas.

   Even sleazy tactics and his radioactive mouth may not be able to contain this debacle.

   • 2020 November 30, Burgess Everett, Caitlin Emma, Theodoric Meyer, quoting John Cornyn, “Joe Biden's 'radioactive' nominee”, in POLITICO‎:

     And while Biden’s other nominees have done little to provoke Republican backlash thus far, [Neera] Tanden is “radioactive,” as Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) put it.

   • 2022 April 4, Gail Collins, Bret Stephens, “Which ‘Radioactive Republicans’ Are We Betting On?”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     If, by some miracle, Democrats hang on to one or both houses of Congress this November, it will be because of Cawthorn, Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and other would-be G.O.P. candidates trying to be just like them — the Radioactive Republicans.

Derived terms

• nonradioactive
• radioactive dating
• radioactive decay
• radioactive disintegration
• radioactive equilibrium
• radioactive fallout
• radioactively
• radioactive tracer
• radioactive waste
• radioactivity

 

Translations

exhibiting radioactivity

Afrikaans: radioaktief Armenian: ռադիոակտիվ (hy) (ṙadioaktiv), ճառագայթաակտիվ (hy) (čaṙagaytʻaaktiv) Asturian: radioactivu Basque: erradioaktibo Belarusian: радыёакты́ўны (radyjoaktýŭny) Bulgarian: радиоакти́вен (radioaktíven) Catalan: radioactiu Chinese: Mandarin: 放射性(的) (fàngshèxìng (de)) Czech: radioaktivní (cs) Danish: radioaktiv (da) Dutch: radioactief (nl) Esperanto: radioaktiva Faroese: geislavirkin Finnish: radioaktiivinen (fi) French: radioactif (fr) Galician: radioactivo (gl) Georgian: რადიოაქტიური (radioakṭiuri) German: radioaktiv (de) Greek: ραδιοενεργό n (radioenergó) Hebrew: רדיואקטיבי (he) (radioaktivi) Hindi: रेडीओऐक्टिव (reḍīoaikṭiv) Hungarian: radioaktív (hu) Icelandic: geislavirkur Ido: radioaktiva (io) Italian: radioattivo (it) Japanese: 放射性(の) (ほうしゃせい(の), hōshasei (no)) Kazakh: радиоактивті (radioaktivtı), радиоактивтік (radioaktivtık) Korean: please add this translation if you can Maori: iraruke Mongolian: Cyrillic: цацраг идэвхит (cacrag idevxit) Polish: radioaktywny (pl) Portuguese: radioactivo (pt) (Portugal), radioativo (pt) (Brazil) Romanian: radioactiv (ro) Russian: радиоакти́вный (ru) (radioaktívnyj) Scottish Gaelic: rèidio-beò Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: радиоактивни Roman: radioaktivni Slovak: rádioaktívny (sk) Slovene: radioaktíven Spanish: radiactivo (es) Swedish: radioaktiv (sv) Thai: กัมมันตรังสี (th) Turkish: radyoaktif (tr) Ukrainian: радіоакти́вний (radioaktývnyj) Urdu: please add this translation if you can

Noun

radioactive (plural radioactives)

1. Any radioactive substance.
   • 2016, Travis S. Taylor, Les Johnson, On to the Asteroid:

     Any ship nearby will receive a lethal dose of gamma rays, neutrons, and other radioactives.

Further reading

• “radioactive”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• radioactive on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

radioactive

1. feminine singular of radioactif