adjective
radioactive
giving off energy as particles or rays while its atoms break down
In a sentence
Six example sentences with radioactive, each labelled with its topic.
Geologists date the granite by measuring how much of its radioactive potassium has decayed into argon over millions of years.
Science
A technician injects a small radioactive tracer so the scanner can follow blood as it moves through the heart.
Medicine
Fifty years after the accident the soil around the reactor remains radioactive enough that farming is still forbidden there.
Environment
Marie Curie carried radioactive samples in her pockets, and her notebooks still give off enough radiation to need lead boxes.
History
Most smoke detectors hold a speck of radioactive americium, whose steady stream of particles drops the moment smoke enters.
Technology
The council rejected the site for radioactive waste, since the drums would keep emitting particles for thousands of years.
Politics
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Found in these word lists
- Engineering Technology Word ListAuthoritative
Each source is a published word list that contains radioactive. No exam board publishes an official GRE, GMAT or SAT list; GMAT words come from GRE lists and the Academic Word List.