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

The nuclear option is to take all this information and actually change jobs. —Byscott Galloway, Fortune, 23 Apr. 2024

But like most nuclear options, Cummings’ strategy doesn’t come without the risk of some mutually assured destruction. —Ethan Millman, Rolling Stone, 11 Apr. 2024

The law also gives the EU recourse to the nuclear option of forcing tech companies to sell off parts of their business. —Morgan Meaker, WIRED, 6 Mar. 2024

Secretary of State Antony Blinken technically has the authority to override the congressional hold – a move that most secretaries of state in the past have viewed as a nuclear option that could backfire on them, both politically in the short-term and when the balance of power shifts in Washington. —Michael Wilner, Miami Herald, 8 Mar. 2024

The wargames suggest that AI systems are more likely than humans to use the nuclear option, Wargaming is a common technique for exploring different military and diplomatic strategies and outcomes. —The Physics Arxiv Blog, Discover Magazine, 23 Feb. 2024

Now, as China’s nuclear options have grown, its military strategists are looking to nuclear weapons as not only a defensive shield, but as a potential sword — to intimidate and subjugate adversaries. —Chris Buckley, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2024

In my family’s culinary arsenal, Goodman’s is the nuclear option. —Benjamin Dubow, Longreads, 20 Feb. 2024

The ‘nuclear option’ in L.A.’s war to rein in the mighty car, make streets safe Aug. 10, 2022 Advertisement Architects of the measure intended it as a way to make streets safer, more accessible to bikes and pedestrians and more transit-friendly. —Rachel Uranga, Los Angeles Times, 1 Feb. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1962, in the meaning defined at sense 1