nuclear option

British

noun

the use of or power to use nuclear weapons
the use of or power to use a measure considered to be particularly drastic

the nuclear option of a confidence vote

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It could even reach for a nuclear option: abolishing the draft altogether, and making incoming rookies free agents.

From The Wall Street Journal

Compared with it being described as a "nuclear option" last month.

From BBC

There’s also the nuclear option: Ditch the cloud and back up your data to a local drive.

From The Wall Street Journal

“That’s a nuclear option,” he added.

From The Wall Street Journal

He also joked that he had taken the "nuclear option" by calling for Sir Keir to go.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023