radiation sickness
nounDefinition of radiation sickness
: sickness that results from exposure to radiation and is commonly marked by fatigue, nausea, vomiting, loss of teeth and hair, and in more severe cases by damage to blood-forming tissue with decrease in red and white blood cells and with bleeding
Examples of radiation sickness in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
How the two who reportedly died of radiation sickness fit into these numbers is not clear. — Will Englund, Washington Post, "Two victims of mysterious Russian missile blast died of radiation sickness, report says," 21 Aug. 2019 Unprotected persons caught in the blast—or venturing into the blast zone afterward—could be exposed to dangerous levels of radioactivity, leading to radiation sickness or cancer. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "The Pentagon Wants VR To Train for Nuclear War," 9 July 2019 Thirty workers died either from the explosion at the number four reactor or from acute radiation sickness within several months. — Fox News, "Chernobyl's $1.7B nuclear confinement shelter revealed after taking 9 years to complete," 4 July 2019 According to the Environmental Protection Agency, exposure to very high levels of radiation, such as being close to an atomic blast, can cause skin burns and acute radiation syndrome, known as radiation sickness. — Helen Regan, CNN, "Parts of Marshall Islands are more radioactive than Chernobyl and Fukushima, study finds," 17 July 2019 The April 1986 disaster left at least 30 people dead in the immediate aftermath, from either the explosion at the reactor or from acute radiation sickness in the months after, and sparked a widespread environmental disaster. — Fox News, "Site of Chernobyl nuclear disaster to become official tourist attraction, Ukrainian president says," 11 July 2019 Thirty workers died either from the explosion or from acute radiation sickness within several months. — Washington Post, "Ukraine: Chernobyl’s radioactive dust shelter unveiled," 10 July 2019 Humans, by contrast, get radiation sickness at doses of 0.5 gray and are killed by 5 gray. — Richard A. Lovett, Science | AAAS, "Space station mold survives 200 times the radiation dose that would kill a human," 28 June 2019 The Soviet state directed that only the most severe cases of radiation sickness be noted in patients’ records. — Mona Charen, National Review, "Lessons of Chernobyl," 7 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'radiation sickness.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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