How to Use radioactivity in a Sentence

radioactivity

noun
  • The disks were returned so they could be trimmed in size to reduce their radioactivity.
    — Patrick Malone and Peter Cary, idahostatesman, 10 Aug. 2017
  • There, the remains were buried so that the radioactivity in them cannot escape and harm others.
    — cincinnati.com, 17 Mar. 2020
  • Many mines have high levels of radioactivity, and a high risk of collapse, leading to injury or death.
    — Marx Itabelo Lwabanya, Scientific American, 1 Dec. 2023
  • Its radioactivity shot into the stratosphere and circled the globe for years.
    — New York Times, 30 Oct. 2021
  • The lab reported that sampling of the area during the fire showed no release of radioactivity.
    — NBC News, 23 Dec. 2020
  • These supporting layers catch radioactivity on the way in or out of the central xenon chamber.
    — Hugh Lippincott, The Conversation, 9 Aug. 2023
  • Large amounts of radioactivity were released into the air, and hundreds of thousands of people were forced from their homes.
    — National Geographic, 26 Mar. 2019
  • Hublin’s team spent a year measuring the radioactivity of the Jebel Irhoud site.
    — National Geographic, 7 June 2017
  • The agency’s radioactivity with the gun-rights lobby has left it on shaky political ground.
    — Alec MacGillis, ProPublica, 1 June 2026
  • In the glass form, the waste is stable and its radioactivity will safely dissipate over hundreds to thousands of years.
    — Nicholas K. Geranios, The Seattle Times, 16 Mar. 2018
  • Those impacts would leave Pluto hot, with a liquid ocean still warmed by radioactivity today.
    — Eric Betz, Discover Magazine, 11 Dec. 2020
  • The warhead did not detonate and there was minimum radioactivity at the site.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 5 Dec. 2019
  • In some units, the level of radioactivity detected was many times the amount set by federal standards.
    — oregonlive, 23 Feb. 2020
  • The health effects that attend the extraction of this precious haul from the soil are not limited to just radioactivity.
    — Literary Hub, 22 Jan. 2026
  • The hope was that by the time the ice carrying the balls emerged at the coast thousands or tens of thousands of years later, the radioactivity would have decayed away.
    — Paul Bierman, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Sep. 2024
  • The new interpretation would be based on the waste’s level of radioactivity, not its origin.
    — Ralph Vartabedian, latimes.com, 5 June 2019
  • But some scientists say long-term impact of the low-dose radioactivity that remains in the water needs attention.
    — Mari Yamaguchi, USA TODAY, 25 Aug. 2023
  • Actually, the biggest danger was not the radioactivity but the wild boars.
    — Robert Maxwell, National Geographic, 28 Apr. 2016
  • Adding more radioactivity to the Alaskan ecosystem would likely result in higher rates of cancer.
    — Shoshi Parks, Popular Science, 14 Aug. 2025
  • If correct, that meant that something strange was going on with the particles governing radioactivity and with the rules of physics.
    — Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American, 10 Apr. 2026
  • When wild boars consume the truffles in winter, their radioactivity levels increase, per the Post.
    — Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Sep. 2023
  • Then, that soil will be tested for radioactivity, wrapped in special packaging and stored in heavy-metal containers.
    — Andy Sheehan, CBS News, 14 Apr. 2026
  • Members of the public can suggest sites that should be tested, collect data on radioactivity, and raise funds to cover the cost of the research.
    — Eva Lewandowski, Discover Magazine, 8 June 2016
  • That process is called radioactivity or radioactive decay.
    — Kelling Donald, The Conversation, 13 Oct. 2025
  • Kaltofen, through the course of his study, found three of the highest levels of thorium radioactivity in the dust of three Hanford workers’ homes.
    — Hal Bernton, The Seattle Times, 14 June 2018
  • Even so, tiny traces of natural radioactivity remain a constant challenge.
    — Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 2 Oct. 2025
  • For now, all the scientists, engineers, and their allies can do is keep the radioactivity under control, track down its source, and try to capture it.
    — Vince Beiser, WIRED, 26 Apr. 2018
  • Marie and Pierre Curie had spent years studying the natural radioactivity in tons of uranium ores.
    — Andrea Richard, The Conversation, 2 Oct. 2025
  • During the demonstration, a mishap occurred, and the core went critical, emitting a burst of radioactivity that later killed him.
    — Monica Lopez, Scientific American, 27 July 2023
  • The sphere sent out a burst of radioactivity in a bright blue flash of light, and Slotin was exposed to a similarly intense burst of radiation.
    — Sarah Watts, Discover Magazine, 23 Mar. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'radioactivity.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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