megatonnage

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

mega- +‎ tonnage

Noun[edit]

megatonnage (countable and uncountable, plural megatonnages)

  1. The destructive power of an explosive, measured in megatons.
    • 1988 September 9, Harold Henderson, “The City File”, in Chicago Reader[1]:
      "We have grown accustomed to a deadly paradox: the world's greatest megatonnage of TNT is buried in the heart of the earth's most productive agricultural area.
    • 2007 October 26, Dennis Hevesi, “Randall Forsberg, 64, Nuclear Freeze Advocate, Dies”, in New York Times[2]:
      That simple idea gained increasing public support in the late 1970s and early 80s as an alternative to the complexities of the arms race, with its continuing posturing and intermittent negotiations about megatonnage, throw weight and inspections.