Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
An early nuclear reactor fueled by uranium and moderated with graphite.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: nuclear physics
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
a nuclear reactor that uses controlled nuclear fission to generate energy
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: atomic reactor, pile, chain reactor
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: nuclear reactor, reactor
History
From the fact that the first nuclear reactor, at the University of Chicago in 1942-1943, was literally constituted by a tall pile (heap) of graphite moderator blocks. Compare also charcoal pile, a traditional improvised kiln used in charcoal making, which uses a similar basic design to contain a volatile process. The fact that English pile also is related to French pile (“battery”) (with senses of a collection of components and a power source, often both coinstantiated) has also been noted as an interesting nexus of word roots and semantic themes.
Across languages
8 source translations are retained for this English entry.
