nonproliferation
noun
Simple meaning
The prevention of something increasing or spreading.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nahnpruhlihferayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
nɑnpɹəlɪfɚˈeɪʃən
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 prevention of something increasing or spreading (especially the prevention of an increase in the number of countries possessing nuclear weapons)
“They protested that the nonproliferation treaty was just a plot to maintain the hegemony of those who already had nuclear weapons.”
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: The prevention of something increasing or spreading (especially the prevention of an increase in the number of countries possessing nuclear weapons)
Used this way, nonproliferation is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
“They protested that the nonproliferation treaty was just a plot to maintain the hegemony of those who already had nuclear weapons.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use nonproliferation
- “They protested that the nonproliferation treaty was just a plot to maintain the hegemony of those who already had nuclear weapons.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An agency that serves as the focal point for all Intelligence Community activities related to nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their missile delivery systems.
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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.