nuclear force

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

• noun The strong nuclear force.
• noun The strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force, considered collectively.

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

• noun physics The force that acts between nucleons and binds protons and neutrons into atomic nuclei; the residual strong force
• noun physics The strong interaction that binds quarks and gluons together to form nucleons; the colour force