Chernobyl

[ chur-noh-buh l; Russian chyir-naw-bil ]
/ tʃɜrˈnoʊ bəl; Russian tʃyɪrˈnɔ bɪl /

noun

a city in N Ukraine, 80 mi. NW of Kiev: nuclear-plant accident 1986.

Example sentences from the Web for chernobyl

British Dictionary definitions for chernobyl

Chernobyl
/ (tʃɜːˈnəʊbəl, -ˈnɒbəl) /

noun

a town in N Ukraine; site of a nuclear power station accident in 1986

Cultural definitions for chernobyl

Chernobyl
[ (chuhr-noh-buhl, cher-noh-buhl) ]

A place in Ukraine where a nuclear power plant — a generator powered by a nuclear reactor — underwent a meltdown in 1986. A cloud of radioactive gases spread throughout the region of Chernobyl and to foreign countries as well. Forty thousand people living nearby were evacuated. Dozens of deaths and hundreds of illnesses were reported to have been caused by the accident. (Compare Three Mile Island (see also Three Mile Island).)