1. A nuclear weapon in which enormous energy is released by nuclear fission (splitting the nuclei of a heavy element like uranium 235 or plutonium 239)
   "The plutonium bomb devastated Hiroshima in 1945";
   - atom bomb, atomic bomb, A-bomb, fission bomb

Derived forms: plutonium bombs

Type of: atomic weapon, bomb, nuclear weapon

Encyclopedia: Plutonium bomb