Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Possible to split.
  • adjective Physics Fissionable, especially by neutrons of all energies.
  • adjective Geology Easily split along close parallel planes.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Capable of being split, cleft, or divided into layers, as wood in the direction of the grain, or certain minerals and rocks in the planes of cleavage or foliation. See schist and cleavage.
  • In entomology, formed of plates or scales which are closely appressed in repose, but may be spread apart: an epithet sometimes applied to lamellate antennæ.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Capable of being split, cleft, or divided in the direction of the grain, like wood, or along natural planes of cleavage, like crystals.
  • adjective Fissionable.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Able to be split
  • adjective geology Easily split along a grain
  • adjective physics Capable of undergoing nuclear fission

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective capable of being split or cleft or divided in the direction of the grain
  • adjective capable of undergoing nuclear fission

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin fissilis, from fissus, split; see fissi–.]

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Examples

  • Furthermore, to judge from the reports that have been written about a global black market in fissile materials, perhaps you could sit on the periphery — say in Istanbul — and with relatively little risk allow the uranium to come to you.

    How to Get a Nuclear Bomb 2006

  • Furthermore, to judge from the reports that have been written about a global black market in fissile materials, perhaps you could sit on the periphery — say in Istanbul — and with relatively little risk allow the uranium to come to you.

    How to Get a Nuclear Bomb 2006

  • And, Paula, this is a much, much, much greater threat than any threat from an ICBM missile and there's an awful lot of this what they call, the scientists call fissile material, the material that makes a nuclear explosion.

    CNN Transcript Mar 6, 2002 2002

  • What intelligence analysts think is more likely is what's called fissile or a dirty bomb, which would using radioactive material that would not create a nuclear explosion, but there would be a explosion that would spread radioactivity over an area and make it uninhabitable for several years.

    CNN Transcript Nov 15, 2001 2001

  • In May 2009 the United Nations 'Conference on Disarmament agreed to hold talks on an international treaty to ban the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons, generally referred to as a fissile material cutoff treaty.

    Scientific American 2010

  • In May 2009 the United Nations 'Conference on Disarmament agreed to hold talks on an international treaty to ban the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons, generally referred to as a fissile material cutoff treaty.

    Scientific American 2010

  • The term 'nuclear materials' (also known as fissile materials) refers to the substances which, by undergoing rapid nuclear fission, provide the explosive energy of nuclear weapons.

    The Hindu - Front Page 2010

  • In May 2009 the United Nations 'Conference on Disarmament agreed to hold talks on an international treaty to ban the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons, generally referred to as a fissile material cutoff treaty.

    Scientific American 2010

  • In May 2009 the United Nations 'Conference on Disarmament agreed to hold talks on an international treaty to ban the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons, generally referred to as a fissile material cutoff treaty.

    Scientific American 2010

  • In May 2009 the United Nations 'Conference on Disarmament agreed to hold talks on an international treaty to ban the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons, generally referred to as a fissile material cutoff treaty.

    Scientific American 2010

Comments

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  • the fissile logic of the bildungsroman...

    October 14, 2007