atomic cocktail
- noun
- /əˈtɑːmɪk ˈkɒk.teɪl/
- Archaic
:
cóctel atómico
- The patient received an atomic cocktail to help treat her thyroid cancer.
Examples
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Doctors sometimes prescribe an atomic cocktail to track the progress of certain diseases.
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Preparation and handling of the atomic cocktail must be done with extreme caution in the hospital.
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An atomic cocktail is used in therapy.
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The atomic cocktail is effective!
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The patient received an atomic cocktail to help treat her thyroid cancer.
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Doctors sometimes prescribe an atomic cocktail to track the progress of certain diseases.
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Preparation and handling of the atomic cocktail must be done with extreme caution in the hospital.
Synonyms
87
3.7
Treatment that uses strong rays to kill cancer cells
7
3.9
A treatment that uses strong beams of energy to kill cancer cells
2
4.4
Treatment that uses strong rays to destroy cancer cells
A drug that contains a small radioactive substance used to find or treat illness with medical scans
To treat disease by exposing the body to radiation, often for cancer
A medical treatment using radium to treat cancer that was used in the past
Surface Forms
Morphology
atomic + cocktail
The noun is compositionally predictable: 'atomic' conveys extreme intensity or explosiveness and 'cocktail' (a mixed drink) yields the sense of a very strong or showy mixed drink. This adjective+noun metaphor is a regular extension of the literal meanings and would be inferable by a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Atomic cocktail may come from doctors calling a small swallowed mix of 'radioactive' medicine a cocktail, like a mixed 'drink' the patient took by mouth. That's why it now means 'an oral dose of a radioactive substance'.