weapons-grade

English

Adjective

weapons-grade

1. (of a radioactive or other substance) Of a purity suitable for the manufacture of weapons.
   • 2023 December 27, Ben Jones, “Inside Sellafield... by rail”, in RAIL, number 999, page 20:

     For 75 years, it has fulfilled a wide range of roles: producing weapons-grade plutonium for early atomic weapons in the aftermath of the Second World War; the world's first commercial nuclear power station supplying electricity to the National Grid; reprocessing and storage of nuclear fuel; and the processing of lower grades of radioactive waste for off-site storage.

2. (by extension, informal) Extreme.
   • 2007, Tad Waddington, Lasting Contribution: How to Think, Plan, and Act to Accomplish Meaningful Work, Agate Publishing, →ISBN, page 75:

     The idea that texts or facts speak for themselves —interpret me no interpretations—is weapons-grade stupidity.

   • 2013, Andy McNab, Silencer, Transworld Publishers, →ISBN, page 111:

     Three or four women sat on their own, each with a thick layer of make-up and weapons-grade hairspray.

   • 2015, Sarah Morgan, First Time in Forever, HQN, →ISBN, page 138:

     “Ryan is hot by the way, and by hot I am talking weapons-grade sex appeal. […]

Translations

Suitable for weapons

• French: de qualité militaire
• Korean: 무기급(武器級) (mugigeup)