radiation.

1. The emission or transmission of energy through waves or particles.

2. Medical treatment that uses radiation, especially in treating a disease.

3. Spreading or arrangement outward from a center, including divergence into different forms.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• ionizing radiation
• radiation exposure

On the page

The sensors detected radiation exposure that the crew could not assess by sight or smell.

The report specified ionizing radiation rather than treating every electromagnetic wave as equally hazardous.

Usage notes

Primary category: horror / sci-fi / gothic. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: hazard description, speculative setting, bodily condition, scene explanation. Disciplines: genre writing, science-informed description, clinical and safety vocabulary. Commonness: moderately common.