fallout
noun
Simple meaning
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.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fawlowtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɔlaʊt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
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.
The radioactive particles that settle to the ground after a nuclear explosion
A negative side effect; an undesirable or unexpected consequence.
The particles themselves.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: 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.
Used this way, fallout is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It suits considered writing and prepared speech.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Nearby words
- radioactive dust , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use fallout
- “A strategy to contain the fallout from the accounting scandal.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Event / radioactive
Negative
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A shelter to protect occupants from the fallout from an atomic bomb.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: event of small airborne particles falling to the ground in significant quantities as a result of major industrial activity
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.