Phrase guide

highly enriched uranium

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Enriched uranium containing at least 20% uranium-235 (some applications, such as fission weapons and naval reactors, use uranium enriched to as high as 80-95% uranium-235), and therefore capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction without needing a moderator; used in nuclear weapons and in a few types of nuclear reactors requiring very high power density or high neutron flux.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Qualifier: nuclear physics

Topics: government, military, politics, war

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: weapons-grade uranium

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: enriched uranium, mul:U, uranium

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.