Uranium is a naturally occurring radioactive metal that is used to produce nuclear energy and weapons.
uranium in British English
(jʊˈreɪnɪəm)
noun
a radioactive silvery-white metallic element of the actinide series. It occurs in several minerals including pitchblende, carnotite, and autunite and is used chiefly as a source of nuclear energy by fission of the radioisotope uranium-235. Symbol: U; atomic no: 92; atomic wt: 238.0289; half-life of most stable isotope, 238U: 451 × 109 years; valency: 2-6; relative density: 18.95 (approx.); melting pt: 1135°C; boiling pt: 4134°C
Word origin
C18: from New Latin, from Uranus2; from the fact that the element was discovered soon after the planet
uranium in American English
(jʊˈreɪniəm)
noun
a very hard, heavy, silver-colored, radioactive, metallic chemical element, one of the actinides, foundonly in combination, chiefly in pitchblende: symbol, U; at. no., 92: an isotope (uranium-235) undergoes neutron-induced fission and another, more plentiful, isotope (uranium-238) is used to produce plutonium
Word origin
ModL: so named (1789) by M. H. Klaproth (see tellurium), its discoverer, after Uranus, recently (1781) discovered planet + -ium