Standard Lemma guide

megaton

noun · 6 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.

  • US: /ˈmɛɡəˌtʌn/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M EH1 G AH0 T AH2 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A measure of the strength of an explosion or a bomb based on how many million tons of TNT would be needed to produce the same energy. (A derived unit for TNT equivalent.)

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Holonyms: gigaton < teraton < petaton < exaton (rare) < zettaton (rare) < yottaton (rare)
  • Meronyms: ton of TNT < kiloton

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

One million tons.

One million short tons (106 × 2000 lb).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

One million tons.

One million long tons (106 × 2240 lb).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

One million tons.

One million metric tons (106 × 2204.6 lb).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Holonym: gigaton
  • Meronym: kiloton

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

a measure of explosive power (of an atomic weapon) equal to that of one million tons of TNT

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: explosive unit

6

noun

Meaning 6

one million tons

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: avoirdupois unit

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *méǵh2s Proto-Hellenic *mégas Ancient Greek μέγᾰς (mégăs)der. English mega- English ton English megaton From mega- + ton.

Across languages

Translations

11 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 兆噸 /兆吨 (zhàodūn) — unit of measure
  • Czech: megatuna — unit of measure
  • Finnish: megatonni — unit of measure
  • French: mégatonne — unit of measure
  • German: Megatonne — unit of measure
  • Italian: megaton — unit of measure
  • Italian: megatone — unit of measure
  • Japanese: メガトン (megaton) — unit of measure
  • Korean: 메가톤 (megaton) — unit of measure
  • Russian: мегато́нна (megatónna) — unit of measure
  • Vietnamese: triệu tấn — unit of measure