nuking

present participle of nuke
as in destroying
to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of a pretty sizable piece of real estate would be nuked if an asteroid struck

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of nuking To save the planet, a crew is sent on a mission to give the sun back its shine… by nuking the crap out of it. — Grace Dean, Space.com, 1 Sep. 2026 Korea’s unfunny dictator responded by nuking the studio’s tech apparatus, thus disclosing its financial secrets. — Peter Bart, Deadline, 30 July 2026 The moon briefly had a small chance of taking a hit from the asteroid during its close approach in 2032 – prompting one team of scientists to propose simply nuking the space rock. — Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 9 Mar. 2026 But there’s a cleverness to how AdHoc’s writing team has managed to give the player a sense of control without completely nuking the story. — Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 30 Oct. 2025 Johnson raised concerns that nuking the filibuster could one day empower socialists, in an appearance on C-SPAN Thursday. — Steven T. Dennis, Fortune, 11 Oct. 2025 However, nuking the asteroid could potentially create problems. — Toria Sheffield, PEOPLE, 6 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nuking
Verb
  • Fox attorneys also accused executives at both Dominion and Smartmatic of destroying evidence in their respective cases, and sought sanctions.
    — Maddy Lauria, NPR, 20 Sep. 2026
  • Because both sides can persistently generate concentrated effects without concentrating forces, destroying the enemy’s ability to keep fighting becomes harder.
    — NADIA SCHADLOW, Foreign Affairs, 18 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • On Thursday, the judge ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days' notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 20 Sep. 2026
  • On Thursday, the judge ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it.
    — Gary Fields, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • And Hollywood really should stop ruining good shows trying to chase that approval.
    — Dan Zaksheske OutKick, FOXNews.com, 18 Sep. 2026
  • The near-miss is one of the more potent and consequential instances of a hallucinating AI ruining the reliability of a professional report.
    — Kyle Orland, ArsTechnica, 18 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Here’s how the shift happened, what the ingredient actually does below the neck and how to fold it into a routine without wrecking your skin barrier.
    — Hanna Wickes, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 Sep. 2026
  • The general public learned of the demolition plan only when the wrecking equipment began work nearly three months later.
    — Dan Diamond, Washington Post, 9 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Man searching with metal detector unearths massive Viking Age fortune, shattering records.
    — , FOXNews.com, 25 Sep. 2026
  • Last week a number of concerned mathematicians, many of them at the top of their subject, launched the Association for Human Mathematics (AHM)—an effort that was underway even before the earth-shattering Navier-Stokes news.
    — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 14 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Military force has imposed enormous costs on both Hamas and Iran, devastating their military facilities and killing their commanders.
    — NADIA SCHADLOW, Foreign Affairs, 18 Sep. 2026
  • The country is also recovering from devastating back-to-back earthquakes in June that have so far killed over 6,000 people.
    — Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald, 5 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • The helicopter crashed in a driveway between two warehouses, smashing into a pair of truck cargo containers while the news crew tried grabbing video footage of a serious collision involving a Metro bus that also left two people dead.
    — Carlos De Loera, Los Angeles Times, 18 Sep. 2026
  • In the rare instances people have spotted, these birds avoid getting stung by smashing the wasps on the ground to break the stingers before finishing their meal.
    — Sean Donnelly, USA Today, 17 Sep. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Nuking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nuking. Accessed 26 Sep. 2026.

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