fallout shelter
noun
: a shelter built underground to protect people from radioactive fallout
Beginning in the 1970s, curious tales began to emerge from Washington, D.C., about a "doomsday hotel." Located near the nation's capital, it was said to be the ultimate fallout shelter. But only for the well-connected.—
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Who’s crazy, the guy building a fallout shelter or everyone else, putzing along as if all were normal, the apocalypse not a button-push away?
—Alex Vernon
may 27, Literary Hub, 27 May 2025
Hall said an underappreciated aspect of his company's fallout shelter was the communal aspect and the daunting, alternative prospect of outlasting a calamity with only a handful of individuals by your side.
—Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 2 Dec. 2024
And perhaps most notably, during the Cold War era of the 1950s, the U.S. government constructed a secret fallout shelter and relocation facility for Congress beneath The Greenbrier.
—Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 15 Mar. 2025
In a toast, one of his neighbors gently mocks him for the racket he’s made while constructing an underground fallout shelter.
—Daniel A. Gross, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2025
Countless more general contractors and pool salesmen suddenly became fallout shelter experts, too.
—Mark Dent, thehustle.co, 31 May 2024
So few had any real faith in fallout shelter delusions or duck and cover nonsense.
—Jody Mamone, Hartford Courant, 22 Nov. 2024
Bachman writes that 1961 plans for an office building at 28 Rope Ferry Road, near the current day Community Center, included a fallout shelter for 300 people.
—Daniel Drainville, Hartford Courant, 6 July 2024
On the cover, Dylan is seated with a cat on his lap, surrounded by movie magazines, a fallout shelter sign, a copy of Time with Lyndon Johnson on the cover, and several vinyl records, including his previous LP, Another Side of Bob Dylan.
—Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 3 May 2024
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Alex Vernon
may 27, Literary Hub, 27 May 2025
Hall said an underappreciated aspect of his company's fallout shelter was the communal aspect and the daunting, alternative prospect of outlasting a calamity with only a handful of individuals by your side.
—Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 2 Dec. 2024
And perhaps most notably, during the Cold War era of the 1950s, the U.S. government constructed a secret fallout shelter and relocation facility for Congress beneath The Greenbrier.
—Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 15 Mar. 2025
In a toast, one of his neighbors gently mocks him for the racket he’s made while constructing an underground fallout shelter.
—Daniel A. Gross, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2025
Countless more general contractors and pool salesmen suddenly became fallout shelter experts, too.
—Mark Dent, thehustle.co, 31 May 2024
So few had any real faith in fallout shelter delusions or duck and cover nonsense.
—Jody Mamone, Hartford Courant, 22 Nov. 2024
Bachman writes that 1961 plans for an office building at 28 Rope Ferry Road, near the current day Community Center, included a fallout shelter for 300 people.
—Daniel Drainville, Hartford Courant, 6 July 2024
On the cover, Dylan is seated with a cat on his lap, surrounded by movie magazines, a fallout shelter sign, a copy of Time with Lyndon Johnson on the cover, and several vinyl records, including his previous LP, Another Side of Bob Dylan.
—Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 3 May 2024
Cite this Entry
“Fallout shelter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fallout%20shelter. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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