Definition:
: any bomb whose explosive power is due to the release of atomic energy
About the Word:
The atom bomb (also called the A-bomb, and the atomic bomb) is seen as one of the great signifiers of the modern age. Oddly enough, the term for this bomb predates the making of the bomb itself (the first one was exploded in 1945). H G Wells was apparently the first to use phrase atomic bomb; he did so in 1914, well before atoms were being split. Atom bomb began to be used in the early 1920s. Also used first in the 1920s were radiation sickness (which did not require an atom bomb, although atom bombs greatly increased its severity), dating from 1924, and arms race, from the same year.
Example:
"So there is no use of fighting a situation which has become an institution and for which there is no remedy excepting that of blowing up Paris by an atom bomb as forecasted by H. G. Wells some years ago." — L.W. Alwyn-Schmidt, in Color Trade Journal, 1921
