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radioactive

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Giving off harmful energy as atoms break down.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

raydeeohaktiv

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IPA pronunciation (US)

ɹeɪdioʊˈæktɪv

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Exhibiting or caused by radioactivity

noun

  1. Any radioactive substance.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

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More ways to use radioactive

  • “Radioactive isotope.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Radioactive

radioactive materialradioactive falloutradioactive substance

Other combinations

radioactive decayradioactive tracerradioactive iodineradioactive isotoperadioactive source

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • radioactive dustnounCompound term

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

  • radioactive iodine excretion testnounCompound term

    Radioactive iodine test that measures the amount of radioactive iodine excreted in the urine.

  • radioactive iodine testnounCompound term

    Test of thyroid function in which the patient is given an oral dose of radioactive iodine-131.

  • radioactive iodine uptake testnounCompound term

    Radioactive iodine test that measures the amount of radioactive iodine taken up by the thyroid gland.

  • radioactive materialnounCompound term

    Material that is radioactive.

  • radioactive wastenounCompound term

    Useless radioactive materials that are left after some laboratory or commercial process is completed.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Antonyms

Sense: exhibiting or caused by radioactivity

nonradioactive

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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.