''fissile'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''fissile'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260222202800-00-⌔

fissile - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

fissile (comparative more fissile, superlative most fissile)

• Able to be split.
• (geology) Easily split along a grain.
  • ✤ This Cryſtal is a pellucid fiſſile Stone, clear as Water or Cryſtal of the Rock, and without Colour; enduring a red Heat without loſing its tranſparency, and in a very ſtrong Heat calcining without Fuſion.¹
• (physics) Capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction.
  • ✤ North Korea may soon have access to regular amounts of fissile material if it doesn’t already and could be preparing Punggye-ri for a number of nuclear tests if the above analysis is correct.²

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fissilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈfɪsˌaɪ.əl/, /ˈfɪsˌəl/
• Audio (Southern England): 🔊
• Audio (Southern England): 🔊

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

1. a. 1728 (date written), Isaac Newton, “[The Third Book of Opticks.] [Qu[estion] 25. Are there not other original Properties of the Rays of Light, besides those already described?]”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light. […], 4th edition, London: […] William Innys […], published 1730, →OCLC, page 329: ↩

2. 2014 March 20, Jeffrey Lewis, “The Tunnels at Punggye-ri: An Alternative View”, in 38 North ‎${}^{[1]}$, archived from the original on 3 April 2014: ↩

Link to original

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