nuclear option

noun

1

: the option of using nuclear weapons in war

… it is now unimaginable that we would use anything approaching the full measure of our military power (the nuclear option aside) in the wars we fight.

—Shelby Steele

2

: an extreme option regarded as a drastic step or last resort

The EU has most leverage over countries that are desperate to join. Once in the club, with full voting rights, countries can answer back, leaving their peers with only the nuclear option of trying to expel them.

—The Economist

specifically, US politics : a parliamentary procedure in the U.S. Senate by which the requirement of the affirmative votes of a supermajority of senators is changed to require only a simple majority to invoke cloture in order to stop a filibuster and allow a vote on a matter (such as a judicial nomination) to proceed

Since Republicans can't muster the 60 votes necessary to overcome this particular filibuster, they now want to use their authority over Senate procedures to abolish the maneuver itself, at least for judicial nominees. Exercising this "nuclear option," as it is known, would theoretically require the support of just a simple majority of senators, which Republican leaders say they are on the verge of solidifying.

—Jonathan Cohn

Examples of nuclear option in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In July 2013, Reid threatened the nuclear option if the GOP did not confirm several of President Barack Obama's radical labor nominees; Republicans capitulated. —Erick Erickson, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 July 2025

Reid rewarded that display of cowardice by deploying the nuclear option a few months later. —Erick Erickson, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 July 2025

European politicians have sporadically expressed concern about the nuclear threat from Russia, and defense experts have begun discussing Europe’s nuclear options more seriously. —Florence Gaub, Foreign Affairs, 24 June 2025

Image Some clarity on the next round of tariffs Global markets are gaining this morning as investors cheer reports that the Trump administration is likely to forgo the nuclear option on tariffs. —Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1962, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for nuclear option

• adoption